LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 



* UNITED STATUS OF' AMERICA. 



EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 



AN INTRODUCTION 



TO THE EVIDENCES OF 



CHRISTIANITY. 



BY J. O. HALLIWELL, ESQ. F.R.S. 



Second Edition. 




LONDON: 

LONGMAN, GEEEN, LONGMAN AND ROBERTS. 

1859. 

9- 



p At 



The Library 

OF CoNGKESg 
W4I C Otf 



PREFACE. 



^SHE first edition of this work 




was issued, in an expensive form, 
for private circulation, at the 
cost of an influential friend, who was of 
opinion that there was still room for one 
more essay on the historical Evidences of 
Christianity. It is now reprinted with many 
alterations and corrections, and submitted to 
the public, with the hope that its restriction 
to the external testimonies in favour of the 
truth of the religion will render the attempt 
of some interest to the general reader, 
by exhibiting the strong evidence of its 
credibility, even when it is viewed without 



vi PREFACE. 

any reliance upon the circumstances narrated 
in its own records. 

The essential facts and doctrines of Chris- 
tianity must, of course, always mainly rest on 
the statements of its own historical books ; 
but it is hardly necessary to observe that it 
is a point of some importance to establish 
the probability of its general truth from 
extrinsic sources. If the credibility of the 
religion can be proved in the absence of its 
best and most trustworthy records, — in short, 
the history of an era, conducted with a re- 
jection of its chronicles, — the conclusion is 
irresistible. Adopting this plan, the argu- 
ment chiefly rests on the testimonies of inde- 
pendent authors, such as Suetonius, Tacitus, 
Pliny, or Celsus, the Epicurean philosopher ; 
not because the works of such writers are 
really of so much value, or authority, in 
regard to this subject, as those of the early 
Christians, but for the reason that there are 
so many who at once yield to testimonies of 



PRE FA CE. vii 

this description, as proceeding from men who 
were inimical to the religion, and who are, 
therefore, something more than unbiassed 
witnesses in respect to what they yield of 
evidence in its favour. 

Works upon the present subject have 
usually been composed by professed divines, 
or accomplished controversialists. Writing, 
however, as a layman, and for the use of lay- 
men, I do not pretend to enter upon any of 
those intricate questions which are debated 
amongst critics and theologians; and trust 
that there is nothing, in the following pages, 
which can offend the convictions of the mem- 
bers of any denomination of Christians. 
The absence of temptation to indulge in 
arguments touching on doctrinal points is, 
indeed, one of the advantages attending an 
unprofessional defence of our religion. 

July y 1859. 




EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 

E, the inhabitants of one amidst 
the many worlds that constitute 
the universe, are surrounded by 
mysteries, — by visible and invisible agencies, 
the discovery of the real natures of which is 
sought in vain by those gifted with the highest 
powers of human intelligence. There is not 
an animal, a bird, a fish, an insect, or, of in- 
animate substances, a particle of rock, a leaf, 
or even a drop of water, or a grain of sand, 
which does not involve, in the history of its 
creation or composition, inquiries that baffle 
the researches of the wisest philosophers. In 
vain do these reduce all theories of life into 
ultimate facts, and all matter into what they 
term elementary substances, calling them ele- 
ments the rather that they are unable to effect 



2 EVIDENCES OF 

an analysis, than from an absolute knowledge 
they may not be susceptible of continued di- 
visibility ; for when we arrive at the question 
of what these elements really are, how they 
came here, when they were created, — set on 
one side belief in revelation, and the ablest 
chemists, or the most subtle geological rea- 
soners, are no better able to give a satisfactory 
reply than those who are unskilled in all 
scientific acquirements and learning. 

2. Not only are such inquiries as those 
last mentioned beyond our means of solution, 
but there seems every reason to believe that 
the true and minute expositions, if commu- 
nicated by a higher intelligence, — and there 
appears to be no other possibility of our ob- 
taining them — would be unintelligible to our 
minds. The power of our intellects is ex- 
ceedingly limited. Thus, for example, we 
are incapable of understanding what must be 
considered in one sense the simplest problem 
bearing relation to any inquiry into the 
history of the universe, or into what is 
generally termed natural theology. We can- 
not in the least degree comprehend the nature 



CHRISTIANITY. 3 

of either time or space. We speak of certain 
arbitrary intervals in our existence by which 
its progress is measured, but by what possi- 
bility there should ever have been a com- 
mencement of time, a period before which 
time did not exist, — or how there should ever 
be an end of time, a period after which time 
shall not exist, — is to our minds utterly in- 
comprehensible. We are equally unable to 
image to ourselves the idea of the infinity 
of time, — a period so constructed that the 
lapse of a million years, or a million of million 
years, would be without any effect on either 
its relative duration or progress. So also 
with regard to space, we cannot understand 
in what manner there can be a point in space 
at which there is nothing beyond, and we are 
equally at a loss, if we believe space to be 
infinite, which means, to use a familiar ex- 
ample, that if a ray of light travelled one 
hundred and ninety-two thousand miles a 
second for a million years, at the end of that 
period, it would neither be further from one 
side of space, nor nearer to the other. The 
attributes of infinity are, indeed, entirely in- 



4 EVIDENCES OF 

comprehensible to the finite human intellect. 
They must ever be shrouded in mystery to 
all of us, at least in this life. 

3. But although we cannot comprehend 
the nature of either time or space, whether 
one or the other be considered as finite or 
infinite in extent, it seems nearly capable of 
proof that both must be infinite ; for we have 
the capacity to understand an interval of time, 
and a distance in space, and it is at once seen 
that it is impossible the former can exist 
without time also both preceding and follow- 
ing that interval. So likewise with respect 
to any distance in space, it is impossible that 
a limited distance should exist without there 
being space before its commencement, and 
space after its termination. Assuming the 
truth of this position, the question arises, 
whether any material substance can be coex- 
istent with time and space, — in other words, 
can have existed from all eternity. As far as 
science can teach us, it is ascertained that not 
a particle of matter in the world has been 
absolutely destroyed since the creation ; but 
it is obvious, amidst the constant change to 



CHRISTIANITY. 5 

which all matter is subjected, there may pos- 
sibly be a tendency to destruction incredibly 
minute in its operation, beyond the power of 
the analysis of the chemist, for if the world 
lost only a millionth part of a grain of sand 
in a million of million years, it would ulti- 
mately be destroyed, and that before the 
morning of eternity had commenced. If 
there be really no tendency at all to deteri- 
oration of matter in an illimitable course of 
ages, the conclusion is that the ability of 
destroying is limited to the same power that 
created. The idea of matter existing from 
eternity seems at variance with our instinctive 
conjectures on the subject ; but whatever 
doubt may rest upon this point, there can be 
none that matter is not in itself possessed of 
a creative tendency. This train of reasoning 
leads to the conclusion that the're must have 
existed through infinite time a sentient in- 
corporeal power, endued with the ability of 
creating and destroying, for nothing could 
ever come of nothing, and without a sentient 
power, creation was obviously impossible. 
This is what the Scriptures tell us concerning 



6 EVIDENCES OF 

God. — " No man hath seen God at any 
time." — " God is a spirit, and they that wor- 
ship him must worship him in spirit and in 
truth." — " Before the mountains were brought 
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth 
and the world, even from everlasting to ever- 
lasting, thou art God." — Even a single power, 
such as electricity, or any of the impalpable 
agencies discovered by the aid of modern 
science, could not have been self-creating, or 
have existed by themselves from eternity, as 
there is no reason to imagine they are en- 
dowed with any kind of creative power, but 
rather are ethereal agents depending for their 
beinoj on certain combinations of inanimate 
matter, which we know could never have 
been an emanation from nothing. They are 
sometimes formative, inasmuch as they re- 
arrange pre-existing elements ; but never 
creative, and never converting inanimate 
matter into vegetable or animal life. Thus 
were the existence of matter from eternity 
contended for as possible, there would still be 
the admission of a creative power required in 
order to assign a cause for the existence of any- 



CHRISTIANITY. 7 

thing possessing life, which certainly cannot 
have spontaneously issued from inanimate 
matter. We cannot account for the appear- 
ance of the most insignificant family of lichens, 
much less for the marvellous structures of liv- 
ing creatures, without admitting in each in- 
stance the miraculous interposition of a higher 
power, and hence the existence of a Creator. 
It is unnecessary, although the consideration 
of the subject would add great force to the ar- 
gument, to enter into the evidences of wisdom 
and design evinced in the formation of all 
living beings, the position contended for being 
merely, that no substance possessing what we 
term life could possibly have emanated from 
matter without the intervention of a sentient 
power. Whatever theory be adopted, the 
inevitable result is the necessity of assuming 
the existence of a First Cause. Even if we 
went the length of supposing with some, that 
each globe is a living being, producing on its 
surface from itself plants and animals adapted 
to that surface, yet shall we be equally at a 
loss to account for the creation of that living 
globe without divine intervention. The re- 



8 EVIDENCES OF 

duction to the absurdity of self-creation is 
the ultimate result of any theory which does 
not accept, as a truth, the existence from 
everlasting of a God of infinite power. So 
Aristides the Sophist, in his Hymnus in 
Jovem, declares that Jupiter made all things, 
but he is careful to inform us that " first of 
all he made himself," which was certainly a 
necessary and important preliminary. 

4. Although this course of reasoning may 
be rejected by the atheist as being at best 
founded on strong probabilities, yet it is on 
the other hand impossible for the latter to 
prove that there is no God, or even to do 
much more than adduce the difficulties which 
are in the way of our demonstrating with 
scientific certainty that there is. The atheist 
may dispute the efficiency of our case with 
some degree of success, knowing full well 
that our limited faculties prevent the possi- 
bility of bringing forward absolute proof; but 
he is in far greater perplexity, if he attempt 
to show the accuracy of his own views ; for 
it is obviously incredible that a being inhabit- 
ing a globe, which is at most a mere speck in 



CHRISTIANITY. 9 

the universe, should be able to state with 
certainty what evidences of a Deity are not 
hid from our knowledge or senses, or what is 
contained in that illimitable expanse beyond 
the worlds that are visible to man. Let the 
Scriptures be rejected, and it is permitted to 
neither one nor the other reasoner to establish 
a theory that shall be without perplexing dif- 
ficulties and uncertainties. This, indeed, 
would obviously be impossible, unless we 
could compass infinite space, and were endued 
with faculties enabling us to comprehend all 
things. 

5. It must not, therefore, be concealed 
that, with all our reasonings, and an all but 
universal belief that there is such a Being, 
the existence of a God is certainly a propo- 
sition that does not admit of strictly scientific 
demonstration. It is an unhappy and a fatal 
error to expect mathematical proof of the 
results of an inquiry bearing reference to 
theology; and any one who insists on the 
production of such evidence must conclude by 
becoming an atheist, or, rather, in reality, by 
being content to believe in no theory of any 



10 EVIDENCES OF 

description, for it is certainly more difficult 
to prove that life and matter have existed 
from eternity, than it is to show the proba- 
bility of the existence of a God. But we 
can demonstrate absolutely neither the one 
nor the other supposition, and we can only 
believe that, in the latter alternative, is com- 
prised the truth, by being satisfied with that 
kind of analogical reasoning by which the 
truth of the Christian religion, or the inde- 
structibility of the soul, is shown to be pro- 
bable. A belief in any one of these truths 
necessarily involves a certain admission into 
the mind of that quality which the Scriptures 
term faith ; and, without that mental quality, 
there can be no religion whatever. We can 
only prove the truth of the Christian religion 
to the same extent that we can demonstrate 
the existence of a Creator, — by showing that 
its truth is infinitely probable, and that an 
acceptance of its reality is accompanied with 
much fewer difficulties than is any theory 
which dismisses it as false. It should ever 
be remembered that the arguments on these 
subjects ultimately resolve themselves into a 



CHRISTIANITY. 11 

contest of opposite improbabilities, and are 
surrounded by difficulties and mysteries, 
some of which may be capable of explanation, 
but many will never be solved by human 
wisdom. There is no limit to the unanswer- 
able queries that may be propounded ; though 
some, which are at first view insolvable, admit 
of rational interpretation. 

6. In any discussion respecting the truth 
of the Scriptures entered into by sceptics, 
the first chapter of Genesis is usually adduced 
by them as presenting an insuperable dif- 
ficulty. The objection, however, seems on 
examination not to be founded so much on the 
statements therein contained, as to aim at the 
improbability of a revelation being made by 
God to man in a written book composed by 
inspired authors, those " holy men of old" 
who wrote with knowledge and wisdom given 
to them by the Creator. Unless it be boldly 
asserted that revelation, if from God, must 
have been communicated in some other 
fashion, it is obvious that it was necessary to 
guard against imparting the information in a 
form which, by its contradiction of accepted 



12 EVIDENCES OF 

truths and by its apparent impossibility of 
truthfulness, would have risked its rejection 
and loss, a contingency highly probable if the 
discoveries of modern science had been mira- 
culously anticipated, beyond a certain limit, 
by the sacred historians. Were the present 
era the time chosen for the first promulgation 
of the divine word, it would be necessary to 
adapt the history of creation to the under- 
standing of men, and not to forestall those 
future discoveries of science which, if now re- 
vealed, might be thought foolishness, Above 
all, it must be considered that, if the mysteries 
of creation were exactly disclosed, they would 
probably either be far beyond our compre- 
hension, or would appear so extravagant, that 
the revelation would be rejected by all, and 
lost for ever to the world without a special 
intervention. Such considerations may, at 
all events, induce us not hastily to reject the 
more ancient portion of the Scriptures, be- 
cause a few statements in them appear at first 
sight to be irreconcilable with the discoveries 
of modern science. The more we examine 
into and reflect upon the necessity of a reve- 



CHRISTIANITY. 13 

lation being in some degree adapted, in those 
matters which are within the comprehension 
of men, to the time at which it is to be em- 
braced by the human intellect and propagated 
by human agency, the more we shall feel con- 
vinced that, unless the entire system of its 
communication were to be altered, a strictly 
scientific disclosure of the workings of God 
in nature would not be likely to serve either 
the temporal or the spiritual interests of the 
human race. 

7. If, however, objection is taken to a 
literal interpretation of this celebrated chapter, 
the Scriptures themselves furnish an expla- 
nation of what is considered the chief difficulty, 
the assertion that the world was formed in six 
days ; for the Creator is that God of whom 
we are told that, — " one day is with the Lord 
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
one day." In fact, although it was necessary 
to mention an interval of time in order to 
render the history intelligible to those for 
whom it was written, and to all men of all 
ages, yet our ideas of time bear no relation 
to the workings of an infinite being existing 



14 EVIDENCES OF 

through all eternity, to whom one day and a 
thousand years are, in respect to time, one 
and exactly the same thing. A limited time, 
or time in the sense we understand it, is a 
miraculous creation, as much as is that of 
matter or life; it is something utterly un- 
connected with the attributes of God, and the 
word can only be used in a symbolical sense 
when applied to the actions of that great 
Being. In modern science, there is a symbol 
used to express infinity, an unknown quan- 
tity which is the result of more than one 
algebraic operation. Thus, the simplest the- 
orem in connection with that symbol is the 
total depression of any finite quantities that 
come at the same time into contact with it. 
For example, 1 added to or subtracted from 
infinity equals 365,000, added to or subtracted 
from the same quantity. In like manner, 1 
divided by nothing leaves a quotient repre- 
sented by infinity ; and 365,000, divided by 
nothing, also leaves the same quotient, — in- 
finity. This is exactly what the inspired writer 
told us in ages long passed away, before algebra 
was known, or any of the remarkable combi- 



CHRISTIANITY. 15 

nations and results arising from a mathematical 
use of a symbol representing infinity were 
suggested. Adopting the above view, the 
six days mentioned in Genesis may fairly be 
considered six intervals or periods of time, 
each being of immense duration, yet no more 
than days when considered in relation to an 
Infinite Creator. We are too apt to measure 
the workings of God by the compass of our 
own intellects ; to forget that in all of them are 
involved the dealings of the infinite with the 
finite, — the dealings of Him to whom time, 
size, and space are relative, not absolute. The 
references to " the evening and the morning," 
which are found after the account of the crea- 
tive work of each day or period, appear to be 
indicative of the division of the Creator's exer- 
cise of power into distinct periods, the seventh, 
that in which the work of creation has ceased, 
being typical of the Jewish Sabbath. It seems 
difficult, on the supposition of any other theory, 
to account for the repetition at the end of the 
description of the work accomplished on each 
of the six days. If this be the case, we are 
now living in the Sabbatical day or period. 



16 EVIDENCES OF 

8. The discoveries of modern science, aided 
by the researches of the geologists, have 
exhibited the impracticability of many of the 
old and popular theories of the atheist, espe- 
cially those which account for the existence 
of man and the animals by imperceptible 
changes, through an illimitable course of ages, 
of pieces of matter, endued with peculiar 
tendencies, working themselves gradually into 
forms, and ultimately, by obscure changes, 
into the beings that now inhabit the earth. 
Were this theory true, the rocks would 
unquestionably furnish specimens of these 
progressive creations in some of the supposed 
states of transition. But nothing is more 
distinctly proved than the, new creation of 
the superior living animal, man, about the 
time supposed to be referred to in the Scrip- 
tures, by some miraculous effort the appre- 
ciation of which is totally beyond our natural 
understandings. According to the book of 
Genesis, " the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground," a statement which at first 
sight appears mysterious, when applied to 
the work of a being of infinite creative power, 



CHRISTIANITY. 17 

who could obviously at pleasure have dispensed 
with or created the material. These expres- 
sions, which appeared unintelligible for so 
many ages, may now be fully understood. 
It has been satisfactorily proved that the 
chemical elements forming the animal are 
obtained from the vegetable, which, in its 
turn, is composed of those derived from the 
earth ; while the elements of which the 
animal is composed return again to the soil. 
In this respect, therefore, there is not only as 
much consistency as could have been expected 
between scientific discovery and statements 
or incidental allusions in the works of the 
inspired writers, but a strong testimony is 
afforded in support of the special character of 
their works, for it is scarcely possible to 
imagine that an uninspired author, in the dark 
ages of the world, would of himself suggest that 
the complicated and wonderful structure of 
man was created out of mere dust. No reason 
could have possibly existed for the selection 
of a material which must then have appeared 
in itself the most incongruent. It appears 
also, from the book of Genesis, that the first 
c 



18 EVIDENCES OF 

substance possessing life created on the earth 
was the lower kind of vegetable, an assertion 
confirmed by the investigations of the best 
authorities in natural science, who have proved 
that there was a time, in the history of the earth, 
antecedent to the commencement of either 
animal or vegetable life, and who regard the 
existence of every species of plant and animal 
only to be accounted for on the supposition 
of the performance of a separate miracle. In 
any other view, the fact of their being is 
wholly incomprehensible. There is no evi- 
dence which leads to the belief that a single 
species could have been, by a natural process, 
developed, in any conceivable length of time, 
into another species. All scientific experi- 
ment and research tend to show that the 
commencement of each must have been mi- 
raculous. 

9. The formation of man out of earth, or 
out of elements of which earth is composed, 
is still less mysterious than the creation of 
the human mind, accompanied by the com- 
munication of that vital principle, we term 
life, to the created body. Our senses are 



CHRISTIANITY. 19 

altogether too limited to comprehend the pro- 
cess by which this principle was communicated, 
or by which it continues to operate. We 
are utterly unable to explain in what manner 
life attaches to the new-born child, how it is 
sustained through a series of years, or how it 
apparently terminates; yet, with some in- 
consistency, many would raise a doubt as to 
the continuance in space of the "living soul" — 
the intelligent mind of man — after the disso- 
lution of the material substance in which it 
is temporarily contained, chiefly because that 
such is the fact has not been made palpable 
to our senses. It is sufficient to bear in mind 
that, by our unassisted knowledge and in- 
tellect, it is physically impossible that we can 
ever arrive at any certain knowledge, either 
of that which relates to the immaterial spirit 
sustaining the intellectual mind, or of the 
process which commences physical life. The 
living body of man is a compound of matter 
endued with animal life, and inhabited by a 
spiritual essence, the latter being of a character 
the comprehension of which is beyond the 
intelligence of our senses.. Like other com- 



20 EVIDENCES OF 

pounds, it is ultimately dissolved at death, 
the matter of which the body is composed 
returning to matter by a system initiated 
soon after the creation of man, but the spirit 
continuing to be subject to the supervising 
will of God, who, having once joined it to 
matter, can obviously reunite it at his pleasure, 
or effect any other combination or disposal of 
it. 

10. We are altogether incapable of defining 
either matter, or life, or spirituality. They 
may be metaphysically conceivable, but they 
are not within the compass of a practical 
explanation by the aid of the human intellect, 
or amenable to the conclusions of physical 
science. All we know with certainty, from 
our own investigations, is, that a number of 
worlds exist ; that one of these, that which is 
now inhabited by the human race, was at a 
remote period entirely composed of inanimate 
matter ; that afterwards vegetables and animals 
were successively created upon it ; and ulti- 
mately, man, the creation of the last being ac- 
companied by the peculiarity of the additional 
gift, the intellectual power or mind. There 



CHRISTIANITY. 21 

is no reasonable theory which accounts for 
the existence of organic beings, excepting 
that which assumes the exercise of miraculous 
power by an intelligent and all-wise Creator. 
But here human wisdom pauses. The deal- 
ings of that Creator with the material world, 
and with the beings that inhabit it, are in- 
volved in mystery, impenetrable by man's 
reason. We cannot tell, for instance, from 
our own enquiries, why man was not created 
so as to be able to exist without nourishment, 
why he should be allowed to suffer hunger, 
cold, or thirst, or be liable to injury and 
disease, or be attainted by sin, or be subject 
to mental distress, or why he should not be 
able to walk on the water or fly in the air, or 
why there should exist those which, in igno- 
rance probably of their use in the economy of 
nature, we term noxious animals, — nor can 
we give intelligible explanations of innumer- 
able questions of a like character. Thrown 
upon the resources of our own minds, we 
must either be content to believe that we 
ourselves are capable of sitting in judgment 
on the designs and workings of the Creator, 



22 EVIDENCES OF 

or our difficulties and perplexities in reasoning 
on these matters must be allowed to sink and 
disappear in a humble submission of the hu- 
man intellect to the will of God. 

11. These few observations on the limited 
nature of man's intellect, and the obscurity 
with which the simplest operations of nature 
are invested, will perhaps be sufficient to pre- 
pare the reader's mind for an admission, with- 
out which a belief in religion, made known 
to the human race by any means with which 
we are acquainted, seems to be impossible. 
It is this, — that if there be a God of infinite 
wisdom, who has made a revelation of his 
will to finite man, it is not only possible, but 
in the highest degree probable, that such a 
revelation should include much which is 
totally beyond the comprehension of the hu- 
man mind, and that it is not fairly to be re- 
jected either on that account, or because in 
the mode of its communication, or in its 
formula, there is much which is foolishness 
to this world, in other words, the wisdom of 
which is not apparent to our minds. Neither 
must such revelation be rejected, but on the 



CHRISTIANITY. 23 

contrary be considered most likely to be of 
divine origin, if its truth rests chiefly on 
miracles. The gift of a revelation without 
miracles is, as far as we know, a moral im- 
possibility ; and, if there be a God at all, the 
absence of a revelation would be a more 
astonishing and incredible circumstance than 
any number of miraculous occurrences what- 
soever. 

12. Let, then, a candid inquirer approach 
the subject of a religion stated, on what are 
believed to be sufficient grounds, to be a 
revelation from the same God who has 
thought fit to invest the simplest operations 
of nature with mysteries and difficulties be- 
yond the capacity of human reason to solve 
or comprehend. Let it be also particularly 
remembered that this infinite Being has not 
granted the ability of creation to any sub- 
stance, animate or inanimate, but has con- 
descended to exercise miraculous interpo- 
sitions in the first production from the earth 
not merely of man or animals, but in that of 
the simplest insect or plant, a fact in itself 
controverting what has been termed the 



24 EVIDENCES OF 

antecedent incredibility of miracles; and 
surely it will be admitted that such a religion 
is likely to be introduced under conditions 
similar to those by which the other arrange- 
ments of the same Power are regulated. It 
can, therefore, be no fair objection to Chris- 
tianity in itself, that there is much in the 
mode and contents of its revelation which is 
mysterious, and that it was accompanied by 
the working of miracles, chiefly of a simple 
character, performed by the action of the in- 
finite will operating upon elements already 
in existence. Bearing this in mind, we will 
suppose, for the sake of argument, that the 
Scriptures were not accessible to us, and pro- 
ceed to state the following circumstances re- 
specting the history of the Christian religion, 
gathered from independent authorities, the 
validity of which is not questioned by the 
professed enemies of the Gospel. In strict- 
ness, this religion, viewed in connection with 
the elder revelation, should be termed a new 
dispensation; but the object of these pages 
has chiefly reference to the establishment of 
the divine origin of the mission of Christ by 



CHRISTIANITY. 25 

the production of historical testimonies re- 
specting itself, exclusive of its relation to the 
more ancient Scripture. 

13. During the reigns of Augustus and 
Tiberius Caesar, emperors of Rome, there 
lived in Palestine a member of the Hebrew 
race named Jesus Christ. He was of humble 
origin, considered the son of a carpenter, and 
associated with a number of persons, illiterate 
and unpolished, belonging to the lower ranks 
of society, and destitute of influence or 
popular reputation. He delivered himself to 
the world as the Messiah, so long expected 
by the Jews ; and, by some means, he founded 
a new religion, his followers, according to the 
most ancient authorities, being soon known 
by the denomination of Christians. In the 
reign of Tiberius, at the time when Pontius 
Pilate was the procurator of that emperor in 
Judea, somewhere, according to our present 
computation, between the years 25 and 36, 
this personage, Jesus Christ, was, for some 
unstated real or assumed offence against the 
laws, executed by the direction of Pilate. 
The new religion had made considerable pro- 



26 . EVIDENCES OF 

gress before its founder was condemned to 
death, for we are informed, by the Roman 
historian, that it was " checked for awhile" by 
his execution. But it soon recommenced 
its career with renewed vigour, and spread 
not only over Judea, but so rapidly in other 
parts of the world, that, within twenty or 
thirty years after the death of Jesus, a " vast 
multitude" of Christians were discovered at 
Borne itself (Tacit. Ann. xv. 44). The 
extraordinary rapidity with which the new 
faith was promulgated is rendered still more 
remarkable by the circumstance that the 
persons who embraced it were exposed to 
virulent hatred and persecution, and were 
subjected, on account of their novel religious 
belief, to the most cruel tortures, sufferings, 
and deaths. They were regarded as enemies 
to the human race, were accused, without 
evidence, of the commission of horrible crimes, 
and were exposed to aggravated insults and 
oppression. Although the slightest recanta- 
tion of the faith established by Christ sufficed 
to relieve them from these fearful conse- 
quences, and although, without this, even a 



CHRISTIANITY. 27 

formal acknowledgment of the heathen divini- 
ties was in most cases deemed an ample sub- 
mission, the Christians refused to surrender 
for an instant the position they had volun- 
tarily assumed under such discouraging cir- 
cumstances. This was an acceptance of a 
new revelation, accompanied by a rigid deter- 
mination not to recognize in any way the 
national religions of the pagan world, which, 
it must be recollected, were then an integral 
part of state government, the laws compelling 
the observance of at least an external confor- 
mity to some of their ordinances. The per- 
tinacity with which the Christians adhered 
to the new faith under the severest trials is 
not to be accounted for by any of the in- 
ducements ordinarily deemed worthy of self- 
sacrifice. Far from pandering to the tastes 
of this world, or holding out to his followers 
the slightest hope of personal aggrandise- 
ment, or indulging them with the permission 
of gratifying a single passion, the founder of 
the new religion openly anticipated no expec- 
tation on this earth for the converts but the 
endurance of trial and persecution for the 



28 EVIDENCES OF 

sake of the faith; and he inculcated a 
morality so pure as to be virtually impracti- 
cable of attainment, — the perfection of moral 
virtue, towards which the best of men could 
do no more than attempt an imperfect ap- 
proximation. About sixty or seventy years 
after the death of Jesus, legal trials of the 
Christians on account of their religion had 
become general throughout the Roman 
empire. The persecution, fomented and 
strengthened by the fanatical hatred of the 
populace to the new sect, exceeded the bounds 
of even the appearance of justice, death being 
unhesitatingly inflicted on any who merely 
confessed their belief in the truth of Chris- 
tianity. No efforts were spared to tread out 
the embers of the new religion, to absolutely 
destroy it; but the horrors of persecution 
were ineffectually opposed to the constancy, 
determination, and living faith of the disciples 
of Christ. An examination, conducted, with 
a process of torture, in the year 107, failed 
to discover more than the inflexible tenacity 
with which the Christians adhered to their 
belief, and the extreme purity and simplicity 



CHRISTIANITY. 29 

of their lives. In books compiled towards 
the close of the first century, and in those 
dating from that period in an unbroken series 
to the present time, are allusions to facts and 
texts, now preserved in the Gospels, in ex- 
planation of this faith adopted by the Chris- 
tians; those Gospels themselves being alluded 
to by many writers of the second century; 
nor has there been any notice, in the eighteen 
centuries that have elapsed since the death of 
Christ, to lead to the supposition that there 
ever was any narrative contradicting his 
history, as it is now received, or that his 
followers ever grounded their belief on an 
account essentially different from the latter. 
This summary includes the circumstances 
which limit in one direction the adverse case 
respecting the truth of Christianity, the ar- 
gument thus far consisting of facts which the 
opponents of the religion are compelled to 
admit, as being derived from sources univer- 
sally acknowledged to be of valid authority. 
The statement, as above set forth, is inde- 
pendent of any information afforded by the 
writers of the books of the New Testament* 



30 EVIDENCES OF 

It is founded on evidences restricted to those 
passages in the writings of other authors of 
the first and second centuries, the authenticity 
of which has not been questioned by those 
who have indulged in the most sceptical 
criticism. 

14. The earliest period at which the Chris- 
tians are named, by the Roman authors, as 
forming a distinct sect, is the reign of the 
emperor Claudius, that is, between a. d. 41 
and a. d. 54. The passage, which is a some- 
what obscure one, occurs in Suetonius, in his 
life of that emperor, who, according to the 
biographer " banished the Jews from Rome, 
who were continually making disturbances, 
Christ being their leader,", meaning, it is 
supposed, " there were disturbances among 
the Jews and others at Rome, upon occasion 
of Christ and his followers ;" the probability 
being that the introduction of the new faith 
was violently opposed by the large congrega- 
tion of Jews who had then long been settled 
at Rome, and occupied no inconsiderable 
portion of the city. If this interpretation be 
correct, it follows that the Christians had ap- 



CHRISTIANITY. 31 

peared at the metropolis of the Roman empire 
in considerable numbers within twenty years 
after the ascension. A more literal transla- 
tion of the words of Suetonius would be that 
Claudius " expelled from Rome the Jews, 
who were continually making disturbances 
at the instigation of Chrestus. " The historian 
perhaps had heard of the Christ, that is, the 
Messiah, having been used as a rallying name 
in the Jewish rebellions, and mixed this up 
with the rumours that had reached him re- 
specting the Saviour. The statement that 
the Jews were banished from Rome by 
Claudius is also mentioned in the Acts of the 
Apostles (xviii. 2), in a passage which is here 
confirmed by independent testimony. There 
is another allusion to the Christians in the 
biographies of Suetonius, the meaning of 
which is not disputed. It occurs in his life 
of Nero, who reigned from a. d. 54 to A. D. 
68, in the course of which he says, " the 
Christians, a sort of men of a new and magical 
superstition, were punished," that is, execu- 
ted. It appears from this passage that the 
Christians were then considered a new sect, 



32 EVIDENCES OF 

were persecuted on account of their religion, 
and were in numbers sufficient to occasion the 
alarm and hatred of the pagans, though 
whether at Rome, or in the provinces, is not 
distinctly to be inferred. 

15. These ancient notices of the converts 
to the new faith, however valuable in them- 
selves, especially were there no other early 
independent testimony of similar claims to au- 
thenticity, sink into insignificance compared 
with the well-known account in the annals 
of Tacitus, referring to the large number of 
Christians at Rome in the year 64. This 
accurate and philosophical historian, after 
giving a description of the terrible fire in that 
city in the tenth year of Nero, a.d. 64, and 
mentioning the suspicions entertained of the 
sovereign himself being implicated in the 
origin of the calamity, proceeds to observe, — 
" But neither these exertions, nor his largesses 
to the people, nor his offerings to the gods, 
did away the infamous imputation under 
which Nero lay, of having ordered the city 
to be set on fire. To put an end, therefore, 
to this report, he laid the guilt, and inflicted 



CHRISTIANITY. 33 

the most exquisite tortures, upon a set of 
people, who were holden in abhorrence for 
their crimes, and popularly called Christians. 
The founder of that name was Christ, who 
suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, under 
his procurator, Pontius Pilate. This deadly 
superstition, thus checked for awhile, broke 
out again ; and spread not only over Judea, 
where the evil originated, but through Rome 
also, whither everything bad upon the earth 
finds its way and is practised. Some who 
confessed their sect were first seized, and 
afterwards by their information, a vast mul-" 
titude were apprehended, who were con- 
victed, not so much of the crime of incendia- 
rism, as of hatred to mankind. Their 
sufferings at their execution were aggravated 
by insult and mockery ; for some were dis- 
guised in the skins of wild beasts, and worried 
to death by dogs ; some were crucified ; and 
others, reserved for the flames, were burnt 
when the day closed, that they might serve 
as torches to illuminate the night. Nero 
lent his own gardens for these, executions, 
and exhibited at the same time the Circensian 

D 



34 EVIDENCES OF 

games ; being a spectator of the whole, in the 
dress of a charioteer, sometimes mingling with 
the crowd on foot, and sometimes viewing 
the spectacle from his car. This conduct 
made the sufferers pitied ; and though they 
were criminals, and deserving the severest 
punishments, yet they were considered as 
sacrificed, not so much out of a regard to the 
public good, as to gratify the cruelty of one 
man." This testimony to the rapid dissemi- 
nation of the Christian faith emanates from 
an authority that has never been questioned. 
It establishes beyond the power of dispute, 
that Jesus Christ was put to death in the 
reign of Tiberius, under his procurator, 
Pontius Pilate ; that from him the Christians 
derived their name and creed; that the 
religion was instituted in Judea, whence it 
spread, notwithstanding the temporary inter- 
ruption to its progress occasioned by the exe- 
cution of its founder, not only through that 
country, but to such an extent in other parts 
of the world, that in the short period of thirty 
years a great multitude (multitudo ingens) of 
Christians were discovered at Rome, a fact 



CHRISTIANITY. 35 

which leads almost necessarily to the belief 
that they had then penetrated to many other 
parts of the empire ; it being extremely un- 
likely that the dissemination of the doctrines 
of a new sect, originating in Judea, should 
have been restricted, in its external reception, 
to a single distant city. 

16. The narrative of Tacitus establishes, 
amongst others, the facts of the Christians 
congregating at Rome in large numbers as 
early as A. D. 64, and of their being at that 
time the subjects of the intense hatred of the 
populace. The persecution of Nero recorded 
by that historian was not in itself instituted 
against the faith, but with the desire of re- 
moving from himself the suspicion of having 
been the cause, either directly or indirectly, 
of the disastrous fire ; yet it is evident that 
the Christians were selected for the objects 
of the exercise of his fury, on account of the 
known disposition of the public towards them. 
They were condemned, says Tacitus, " not 
so much for the crime of incendiarism as of 
hatred to mankind," or, as it may perhaps be 
translated, " as of practising that which is 



36 EVIDENCES OF 

abhorrent to mankind ; " and their faith was 
a " deadly superstition," and an iC evil." 
These words, taken in connection with the 
testimony of Suetonius (Nero, c. 16), that, 
in the same reign, necessarily therefore before 
a.d. 68, " the Christians, a sort of men of a 
new and magical superstition, were punished," 
show that the converts had incurred heavy 
penalties on account of their religion. The 
important fact is established, that they were 
executed because they were Christians, that 
the mere circumstance of belonging to the 
new sect was attended with great danger. 
It seems impossible to account for the general 
ill-feeling borne towards them by the Roman 
people, without assuming that the cause ex- 
isted in the neglect exhibited by the converts 
towards the ancient polytheism, and that 
hence they were popularly regarded as the 
enemies of the gods. They were " held in 
abhorrence for their crimes," observes the 
historian ; but in such an age and country, 
no kind of profligacy, even if we admitted the 
very improbable supposition the entire body 
could have been distinguished by such crimi- 



CHRISTIANITY. 37 

nality, was altogether insufficient to have 
engendered a fanatical hatred against them 
on the part of the Romans. To judge, indeed, 
from the impurities sanctioned by Paganism, 
it would have been almost a recommendation. 
Adopting the former view, the populace 
would readily entertain the truth of any ac- 
cusations brought against members of an 
illegal sect, who were adversaries of the na- 
tional religion, and consider them " deserving 
the severest punishment." At a later period, 
these calumnious imputations, grounded in 
some instances on perversions of doctrinal 
opinions respecting the Eucharist, were pro- 
pagated with every accompaniment malice 
could conceive ; nor is it likely that the re- 
ports against the Christians, alluded to by 
Tacitus, were of a less shameful character, 
even if they were not the originals of the other 
slanders, as indeed appears to be insinuated 
by Melito of Sardis (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iv. 
26). One of these, a supposititious account 
of an esoteric mode of initiation into the new 
society, related by Minucius Felix (Octavius, 
c. 9), will suffice to exhibit the recklessness 



38 EVIDENCES OF 

with which the most improbable stories were 
invented and propagated, — (i a new-born 
infant, entirely covered over with flour, so as 
to deceive the unwary, was presented to the 
knife of the proselyte, who unknowingly 
inflicted many a secret and mortal wound on 
the innocent victim of his error ; and as soon 
as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the sectaries 
drank up the blood, greedily tore asunder the 
quivering members, and pledged themselves 
to eternal secrecy by a mutual consciousness 
of guilt." It was as constantly affirmed that 
this inhuman sacrifice was attended with other 
rites of nearly as infamous a character. Do 
you believe, asks Justin Martyr, in the Dia- 
logue of Trypho, we eat the flesh of men? 
" Our accusers," observes Athenagoras, 
" charge us with feasting on human flesh," 
Apol. 31. Another early writer, Theophilus 
of Antioch, begs Autolycus, to whom he 
addresses his defence of the Christian religion, 
to consider if those who are taught the pre- 
cepts of the gospel, " are able to live indiffer- 
ently, and to mix together in lawless unions, 
or, what is most impious of all things, to feed 



CHRISTIANITY. 39 

on human flesh ; since indeed it has been for- 
bidden us even to see the shows of the gladi- 
ators, that we may not become partakers or 
accomplices in blood," lib. iii. c. 15. " Oh ! 
how great the glory of that magistrate," 
exclaims Tertullian ( Apolog. 2), " if he should 
hunt out one who hath already eaten an 
hundred infants; but we find even inquiry 
into our case forbidden," the writer alluding 
here to the rescript of Trajan, addressed to 
Pliny, which will be noticed afterwards. 
Many other reproaches were cast upon the 
converts, but it is hardly necessary to sully 
the page with an enumeration of the unsup- 
ported tales related to their discredit, some of 
which include accounts of the wildest excesses 
of intemperance and passion. 

17. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate 
the value and importance of the testimony 
furnished by the account quoted from Tacitus, 
which entirely disposes of a theory, in many 
respects the most plausible one to which an 
infidel could otherwise have had recourse, that 
the Christian religion could have arisen .or 
been invented after the destruction of Jeru- 



40 EVIDENCES OF 

salem by Titus, a.d. 70, for here we have 
unquestionable proof that the new creed had 
spread over a considerable portion of the an- 
cient world at least sixteen years before that 
event. Every fragment of evidence remaining 
on the subject tends to the same conclusion^ 
and it appears incredible that the religion, if 
a mere imposture, could have been propagated 
in so brief a period by persons moving in an 
inferior station of life, many of whom, if there 
were any deception, must be supposed to have 
risked their lives for the support of the truth 
of that which they knew of their own know- 
ledge to be false. The words of the Roman 
historian show that Christianity originated 
with Jesus, and that its progress was inter- 
rupted by his crucifixion, so there can be no 
doubt that the religion itself was contemporary 
with its founder. This conclusion is of im- 
mense significance. It compresses the possi- 
bilities of the truth of any theories founded 
on the assumption of the gospels being false, 
within limits that nearly reduce such a sup- 
position to an impossibility. If no miracles 
had been performed, no evidence of superior 



CHRISTIANITY. 41 

power exhibited, and the Saviour had given 
no indications of the reality of his divine 
mission, there could not have been sufficient 
reasons for his being accepted by any as the 
Messiah. A mere statement to that effect, 
with no signs of any kind to support it, would 
obviously have been a failure. The spread 
of the Christian religion without miracles 
would, as an early writer (Chrysostom, A.D. 
398) observes, have been a greater miracle 
than any recorded in the New Testament. 
On the other hand, if the alleged miracles had 
been fabricated, the faith was being propa- 
gated at a time when there were thousands 
of living witnesses who had either seen Jesus, 
or had opportunities of ascertaining the cor- 
rectness of many of the circumstances of his 
life, and who could have at once thrown 
discredit on the promulgators of fabricated 
stories. " The works of our Saviour," ob- 
serves Quadratus, writing about the year 120, 
" were always conspicuous, for they were 
real ; both those that were healed, and those 
that were raised from the dead ; who were 
seen not only when they were healed or raised, 



42 EVIDENCES OF 

but for a long time afterwards ; not only 
whilst he dwelled on this earth, but also after 
his departure, and for a long time after it, 
insomuch that some of them have reached to 
our days." No doubt can be entertained of 
the very ancient date of this important testi- 
mony, the Apology of Quadratus having been 
presented to the emperor Adrian, who died 
in the year 138. 

18. That the miracles attributed to Christ 
at the commencement of the propagation of 
the religion were the same with those recorded 
in the gospels, is a fact as well supported as 
could have been expected. The excessive 
hatred borne by the Romans to the adherents 
of the new faith, and their anxious desire to 
suppress it, as implied by the words of 
Suetonius and Tacitus, both of them authors 
of the first century, satisfactorily account for 
the partial notice of the religion recorded by 
the few contemporary heathen writers who 
might have furnished more information on the 
subject; but the history of Jesus is referred 
to by an immense number of early writers, 
none of whom present any account essen- 



CHRISTIANITY. 43 

tially opposed to that recorded by the evan- 
gelists ; and many of them incidentally confirm 
the latter in almost every page. A strong 
testimony to its general truth, and to the 
importance which attached to all the words 
and actions of the Saviour, is furnished by the 
large number of heresies that obtained in the 
first and second centuries, when so many able 
men, indulging in controversies respecting the 
Christian doctrine, continually referred to 
the miracles and sayings of Jesus. It cannot 
also be doubted, that, if the gospels had con- 
tained statements absolutely inconsistent with 
those in earlier narratives, the opponents of 
Christianity would eagerly have seized on a 
circumstance so important for the attainment 
of their object ; and there is no reason what- 
ever for supposing, what would be a mere 
gratuitous and unsupported assumption, that 
the miracles therein described are not the 
same with those in oral circulation amongst 
the apostles and their followers. Strict proof 
of either position is unattainable, but what 
evidence there is, as well as all probability, 
tend to show that the evangelical accounts 



44 EVIDENCES OF 

were always received as authentic, and that 
they agreed in substance with the relations 
or fragmentary narratives currently accepted 
before they were written. The notices of 
the gospels by the ancient writers are brief 
but important; and, setting aside the testimony 
of St. Paul and the other authors of the 
epistles in the New Testament, which are too 
well known to require notice, and will not 
generally be accepted as good evidence by 
sceptics, the reader will be enabled to form his 
own opinion on the subject if there are here 
produced some of these allusions from works 
of undoubted antiquity, which were not writ- 
ten for the purpose of testifying to the truth 
of Christianity, and, as might be anticipated, 
contain merely incidental allusions, so intro- 
duced that they will be admitted by all fair 
reasoners to show in themselves the unbiassed 
nature of their testimony. A demonstration 
of the great antiquity of the gospels, by means 
of the production of quotations from or refer- 
ences to them in other works, involves to a 
great extent the proof of the contemporary 
existence of the evangelical account of the 



CHRISTIANITY. 45 

Christian miracles, for it is not possible to 
imagine that the former could ever have been 
entirely dissociated from the latter. 

1 9 . The literary intercourse of the ancients 
was not accompanied with the facilities which 
are at the present day so common as to be 
hardly appreciated. At a time when a new 
book could only be circulated very slowly 
and with great efforts, and when even cor- 
respondence between individuals was attended 
with considerable difficulties, it must not be 
too confidently expected that, at this late 
period, when so many works of the first and 
second centuries of the Christian era have 
perished, we should meet with references to 
any particular history made very soon after 
its appearance. It is only in rare instances 
that an immediate recognition of the writings 
of so remote an author by a contemporary can 
now be discovered ; and it is not unusual to 
meet with cases where very considerable inter- 
vals elapse between the date at which a par- 
ticular book appeared, and the earliest notice 
of such work in any production at present 
known. The exact era of the composition of 



46 EVIDENCES OF 

the gospels cannot, therefore, be ascertained 
by evidence which merely determines the 
fact of their existence to a time previously to 
the most ancient extrinsic mention of them 
with which we are acquainted, for the obvious 
reason that the unexpected discovery of a 
manuscript or roll may on any day satisfac- 
torily prove their higher antiquity. It is 
sufficient to observe that the want of such 
notice does not necessarily affect the question 
of the date of their composition. 

20. The earliest notice of any of the 
gospels by name occurs in the fragments of 
the works of Papias, belonging to the earlier 
part of the second century. This writer was 
a companion of Polycarp, the disciple of St. 
John, and had conversed with those who had 
seen and heard the apostles. He thus men- 
tions St. Mark, — " Mark, being the inter- 
preter of Peter, wrote accurately whatever he 
delivered; but not in the order in which 
things were spoken or done by Christ ; for he 
was neither a hearer nor a follower of the 
Lord ; but, as I said, afterwards followed 
Peter, who delivered his teachings as occasion 



CHRIS TIA NIT Y. 47 

served, but not in the way of an orderly 
arrangement of our Lord's words. Mark, 
however, committed no mistake, thus writing 
some things, as he delivered them ; for this 
one thing he made his care, to omit nothing 
which he had heard, or to commit any error 
in what he related." According to Papias, 
Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew, — 
" Matthew wrote the divine oracles in the 
Hebrew dialect, and every one interpreted 
the original for himself as well as he was 
able." These passages were unhesitatingly 
considered by Eusebius to refer to the gospels 
of Mark and Matthew, nor is there any suf- 
ficient reason for questioning that such is the 
case ; though it is not necessary to accept the 
statements of Papias regarding the history of 
their composition. His assertion, however, 
respecting the language in which the gospel 
of St. Matthew was written, is supported by 
a passage in Irenaeus, and by the general 
tradition of the early church. If the infor- 
mation he gives respecting the gospel of St. 
Mark be correct, it must be supposed that it 
Avas at first arranged in a manner different 



48 EVIDENCES OF 

from that in which it is now preserved ; but, 
whether Papias was well or badly informed 
in such matters, the testimony he bears to 
the existence of two of the gospels in the 
early part of the second century is equally 
important. He speaks of himself as one who 
gathered his information from oral sources, 
especially from conversations with those who 
had followed the apostles, " for I did not con- 
sider that what came out of books would 
benefit me so much as what came from the 
living and abiding voice." The books to 
which Papias refers included probably those 
of the New Testament, for he quoted, in the 
course of his work, the first Epistles of John 
and Peter. 

21. The gospels are also mentioned by 
name in an interesting fragment, ascribed to 
Polycarp, beloDging to the same period, — 
" With reason the evangelists commence 
their gospels differently, although one and the 
same desire of publishing the gospel is ap- 
parent in them all. Matthew, as writing for 
the Hebrews, wove into his history an orderly 
pedigree of Christ, to show that he sprang 



CHRISTIANITY. 49 

from that family, sung of by the whole choir 
of prophets, as that whence the Saviour 
should arise. John, set over the Ephesians, 
who, as Gentiles, knew not the law, derived 
the commencement of his gospel from the 
cause of our redemption, which cause is in 
this manifested that God willed his own Son 
to take flesh for the sake of our salvation. 
Luke, however, begins from the priesthood 
of Zacharias, that by the miracle of his son's 
birth, and the ministration of so great a 
preacher, he might declare to the Gentiles 
the Godhead of Christ. Whence Mark also 
declares how the words of the prophets spoken 
of old in a mystery meet together in the 
coming of Christ, to show that the preaching 
of Him was no new thing, but revealed in 
ancient days. Or, perchance, in this the 
evangelists chiefly sought to use that manner 
of beginning which they severally judged 
most likely to meet the desires of those who 
heard it. No contradiction, therefore, is to 
be found where still, through a diversity of 
writings, we arrive at the same country at 
the last." This fragment ( Jacobson, ii. 534) 



50 EVIDENCES OF 

is preserved in a work compiled by Victor, 
bishop of Capua, about a.d. 480, and is there 
stated to be an extract from certain Respon- 
siones of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, the 
disciple of St. John. It appears to be genuine, 
but its authenticity cannot, of course, be 
proved ; and it cannot, therefore, without 
further evidence, be invested with the same 
authority as that which attaches to the ex- 
tracts from Papias, the genuineness and an- 
tiquity of which are indisputable. 

22. After the time of Papias, the references 
to the books of the New Testament, under 
the names of the writers to whom they are 
now ascribed, are of frequent occurrence. 
Perhaps the most important of these is the 
following passage in the works of Irenaeus, 
the friend of Polycarp. " We have not re- 
ceived," observes this author, in his treatise, 
Adv. Hasr. lib. iii. c. 1, " the knowledge of 
the way of our salvation by any others than 
those by whom the gospel has been brought 
to us ; which gospel they first preached, and 
afterwards by the will of God committed to 
writing, that it might be for time to come the 



CHRISTIANITY. 51 

foundation and pillar of our faith ; for after 
that our Lord rose from the dead, and the 
apostles were endued from above with the 
power of the Holy Ghost coming down upon 
them, they received a perfect knowledge of all 
things. They then went forth to all the ends 
of the earth, declaring to men the blessing of 
heavenly peace, having all of them, and every 
one alike the gospel of God. Matthew then, 
among the Jews, wrote a gospel in their own 
language, while Peter and Paul were preach- 
ing the gospel at Rome, and founding a 
church there; and after their death, Mark 
also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, 
delivered to us in writing the things that had 
been preached by Peter; and Luke, the 
companion of Paul, put down in a book the 
gospel preached by Paul. Afterwards John, 
the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned upon 
his breast, likewise published a gospel while 
he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia." That the 
author of this interesting notice was personally 
known to Polycarp, the friend and disciple 
of the apostle John, appears from a letter 
written by him to Florinus, preserved by 



52 EVIDENCES OF 

Eusebius, in which Irenaeus gives the follow- 
ing account of his recollection of him, — " I 
saw thee when I was yet a boy in the Lower 
Asia with Polycarp, moving in great splen- 
dour at court, and endeavouring by all means 
to gain his esteem. I remember the events 
of those times much better than those of more 
recent occurrence. As the studies of our 
youth, growing with our minds, unite with 
them so firmly, I can tell also the very place 
where the blessed Poly carp was accustomed 
to sit and discourse ; and also his entrances, 
his walks, his manner of life, the form of his 
body, his conversations with the people, and 
his familiar intercourse with John, as he was 
accustomed to tell, as also his familiarity with 
those that had seen the Lord. How also he 
used to relate their discourses, and what 
things he had heard from them concerning 
the Lord. Also concerning his miracles, his 
doctrine, all these were told by Polycarp, in 
consistency with the Holy Scriptures, as he 
had received them from the eye-witnesses of 
the doctrine of salvation." It may be worth 
notice that Irenaeus in another place gives 



CHRISTIANITY. 53 

some fanciful reasons why there should be 
neither more nor fewer than four gospels. 
The reasons are frivolous, but the fact of so 
early a writer confirming the limitation of the 
present evangelical canon is of some impor- 
tance. In the Muratorian Canon, an imper- 
fect work by an unknown author, who is 
proved from internal evidence to have lived 
about a. d. 170, most of the books of the New 
Testament are acknowledged. Tatian, A. D. 
172, composed a Harmony of the Four Gos- 
pels, the same with those now in use, as 
appears from the fragments of the work pre- 
served by Clement of Alexandria. In the 
same century, Tertullian gives numerous and 
explicit quotations from the evangelical nar- 
ratives; and other contemporary writers, 
such as Athenagoras, refer to passages in 
them, as if they were sure to be too familiar 
to the reader to necessitate the mention of 
their source. It has been well observed that 
there are more quotations from the New 
Testament in the works of Tertullian alone, 
than there are from all the treatises of Cicero 
in writers of all classes for several centuries. 



54 EVIDENCES OF 

23. Quotations of texts, either taken ver- 
bally from the gospels, or given from memory, 
are found in numerous works dating from the 
time of the apostles in an uninterrupted series 
to the present day. Before the close of the 
first century, between A.D. 92 and A.D. 100, 
Clement, Bishop of Borne, addressed his cele- 
brated epistle to the Corinthians. This writer 
is supposed, on probable grounds, and on the 
authority of Eusebius and others, to be the 
same person who is mentioned by St. Paul, 
Phil. iv. 3. Irenseus asserts that Clement 
" had seen the blessed apostles, and conversed 
with them; he had their preaching still 
sounding in his ears, and their traditions be- 
fore his eyes; nor he alone, for there were 
then (a. d. 92) still many alive who had been 
taught by the apostles." The subject was 
one on which Irenseus, writing only about 
fifty years afterwards, might be supposed to 
be well-informed ; but, at all events, the epistle 
of Clement is of great and unquestionable 
antiquity, being mentioned by Dionysius, 
Bishop of Corinth, A. D. 170, as having been 
ce read in that church from ancient times ; " 



CHRISTIANITY. 55 

and it is found, with the books of the New 
Testament, in the Alexandrian manuscript. 
This epistle was evidently written without 
any intention on the part of the author of 
bearing evidence to the truth of the evange- 
lical narrative, but it comprises as much as 
might have been expected in a composition of 
that kind, a number of allusions, which are 
important as showing that the words of the 
Saviour, and some of the events in his history, 
recorded in the gospels, were, at the very 
early period at which Clement wrote, un- 
hesitatingly accepted by Christians as authen- 
tic. Any corroborative evidence of this kind 
is of course of an incidental character, but it 
must be considered the more rather than the 
less valuable on that account. Whether it 
be assumed that the words of Jesus found 
both in the gospels and in the epistle of 
Clement are, in the latter, quotations from 
the evangelists ; or if it be thought that they 
were obtained by Clement from those who 
had heard them spoken by the Saviour, the 
testimony is of nearly equal value. If the 
first opinion be accepted, the evidence of 



56 EVIDENCES OF 

Clement is of importance in demonstrating 
the antiquity of the gospels ; and, if the other 
assumption be maintained, a valuable confir- 
mation of the truth of the religion is thus 
afforded. The epistle of Clement was written 
with the hope of soothing some disputes that 
had arisen in the church at Corinth, and, in 
the spirit of peace, he thus addresses the 
members of that congregation, c. 13, — " Let 
us, therefore, humble ourselves, brethren, 
laying aside all pride, and boasting, and fool- 
ishness, and anger: and let us do as it is 
written. For thus saith the Holy Spirit, 
( Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,' 
&c. Above all, remembering the words of 
the Lord Jesus, which he spake concerning 
equity, and long-suffering, saying, ( Be ye 
merciful, and ye shall obtain mercy ; forgive, 
and ye shall be forgiven ; as ye do, so shall 
it be done unto you; as ye give, so shall it 
be given unto you ; as ye judge, so shall ye 
be judged ; as ye are kind to others, so shall 
God be kind to you ; with what measure ye 
mete, with the same shall it be measured to 
you again.' By this command, and by these 



CHRISTIANITY. 57 

rules, let us establish ourselves, that so we 
may always walk obediently to his holy words, 
being humble-minded." Again, in the forty- 
sixth chapter, — " Remember the words of 
our Lord Jesus, how he said, — Woe to that 
man by whom offences come ! It were better 
for him that he had never been born, than 
that he should have offended one of my elect. 
It were better for him that a millstone should 
be tied about his neck, and he should be cast 
into the sea, than that he should offend one 
of my little ones." Clement also alludes to 
the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, to 
his humility, and to the mission of the apos- 
tles ; and he expressly quotes the first epistle 
of St. Paul to the Corinthians, a fact of 
importance, as it is scarcely possible the latter 
could have been written before all the gospels. 
At all events, if this be disputed, the allusions 
to Christ's history in St. Paul's epistle must 
be received as testimonies belonging to the 
first century ; and it is difficult to say which 
position is most favourable to the evidences 
of the religion. The allusions to the history 
of Jesus, in all the epistles, are so obviously 



58 EVIDENCES Of 

made incidentally , with no design of testifying 
to the historical truth of Christianity, they 
prove at least that the incidents therein referred 
to were accepted as true by the converts at 
the time at which they were written. 

24. References to the evangelical texts, si- 
milar in character to those last quoted from 
Clement, are found in the epistle of Polycarp 
to the Philippians, which is mentioned by 
Irenasus in the second century, and is ac- 
knowledged to be a genuine work. Accord- 
ing to this writer, " Polycarp was not only a 
disciple of the apostles, and had conversed 
with many who had seen Christ, but was also 
by them appointed bishop of the church of 
Smyrna ; him I also saw, when in the prime 
of my life, for he continued to a great age, 
departing this life by a glorious martyrdom ; 
there is a most excellent epistle of his written 
to the Philippians, from which they who are 
willing, and are concerned for their own sal- 
vation, may learn both the character of his 
faith, and the doctrine of the truth." In this 
composition, nearly every one of St. Paul's 
epistles are distinctly quoted ; words of the 



CHRISTIANITY. 59 

Saviour, recorded in the gospels of Matthew 
and Luke, are also alluded to ; and, in one place, 
quoting the epistle to the Ephesians, iv. 26, 
he seems to allude to the canon of the New 
Testament, — " I trust that ye are well exer- 
cised in the Holy Scriptures, and that nothing 
is hid from you : but at present it is not granted 
unto me to practise that which is written, — 
Be angry and sin not ; and again, — Let not 
the sun go down upon your wrath." That 
Polycarp was well acquainted personally with 
those who had known the Saviour on earth 
is proved by the letter of Irenaeus to Florinus, 
previously quoted. Irenseus obtained that 
information from Polycarp himself. Con- 
temporary with this writer was Ignatius, who 
was bishop of Antioch in the latter part of 
the first and the beginning of the second 
century. His epistles to Polycarp and to the 
Romans are referred to by that author him- 
self, and by Irenasus, as testified by Eusebius ; 
and ancient Syriac versions of these pieces 
have been recently discovered by an eminent 
scholar, Dr. Cureton, in manuscripts of con- 
siderable antiquity. In the former of these 



60 EVIDENCES OF 

epistles, Ignatius writes, — "be wise as the ser- 
pent in everything, and innocent as the dove as 
to those things whichare requisite;" and again, 
— ee charge my brethren, in the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that they love their wives 
as our Lord his church." Whether these 
Syriac versions be the only genuine copies, 
or abridgements of the originals, it is certain 
that every allusion to the New Testament 
found in them is invested with undoubted 
authority. 

25. It should be remembered that it was 
so much the fashion with the early Christian 
writers to quote the books of the New Testa- 
ment without distinct references, and fre- 
quently either from memory, or with a regard 
rather to the retention of the spirit than of 
the letter, the kind of evidence last adduced, 
though, considering all circumstances, fairly 
conclusive, is not so decisive as would other- 
wise have been the case, when viewed in 
connexion with the enquiry respecting the 
antiquity of our present gospels. In another 
point of view, as involuntary evidences of the 
essential correctness of the words of the 



CHRISTIANITY. 61 

Saviour as recorded by the evangelists, their 
value, though in another direction, is of equal 
importance. Justin Martyr, for example, 
constantly refers to passages of the same 
meaning as others found in the gospels, but 
with so little regard to verbal accuracy, he 
rarely quotes the precise words ; the conclusion 
arrived at by the best critics being that he 
quoted them from memory. In one place, 
however, he employs the exact words as 
literally used by Matthew and Mark. In the 
epistle of Barnabas, now generally ascribed 
to the second century, the author several 
times employs the language of the evangelists 
without acknowledgement. The references 
made by Barnabas to the gospel of St. 
Matthew, although the name of the apostle is 
not mentioned, seem to be indisputable, — 
" Let us therefore beware, lest it should 
happen to us, as it is written, There are many 
called, but few chosen." Again, — " that he 
might show that he came not to call the 
righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Many 
other examples of a like character might 
readily be produced. What is before us, 



62 EVIDENCES OF 

however, is sufficient. The habit of trans- 
mitting discourses orally was very common 
in the first two centuries ; and there can be 
little doubt but that much of the gospel nar- 
rative was originally circulated in that manner. 
The written books must for a long time have 
been comparatively few in number, and could 
only have been obtained with great difficulty. 
Added to this, as the religious books of an 
illegal and unpopular sect, the possession of 
them mast in most cases have been attended 
with great peril ; and some, even of the few 
copies that were in circulation, were probably 
destroyed by the enemies of the religion. 

26. The great importance attached to the 
mission of Christ in the first century is 
strikingly exhibited in the number of doctrinal 
heresies that arose soon after the establish- 
ment of the religion ; some of which perhaps 
resulted from converts declining to surrender 
tenets in connexion with it which they con- 
scientiously believed to be right, for the sake 
of securing uniformity of action in favour of 
the main purpose — the general propagation of 
the faith. Thus Cerinthus, said to have been 



CHRISTIANITY. 63 

a contemporary of the apostle John, received 
the gospel of St. Matthew, but rejected the 
epistles of St. Paul ; an example which was 
followed by the Ebionites, the teaching of 
that apostle offending the prejudices of the 
Judaizing Christians. The early notices of 
these, and other heresies, as they were called, 
are only useful in our present argument for 
the corroborative evidence thus afforded of 
the antiquity of the books of the New Testa- 
ment, and the impossibility of their having 
been forgeries, the latter being a circumstance 
which, if true, would have materially assisted 
the reasonings of some of the early heretics, 
and undoubtedly been triumphantly published 
by them. On this subject, it may be sufficient 
to quote the following observations of Ire- 
nseus, — " Such is the certain truth of our 
gospels, that the heretics themselves bear 
testimony to them, every one of them, starting 
from these, endeavouring to prove his par- 
ticular doctrines ; but the Ebionites may be 
confuted from the gospel of Matthew, which 
alone they receive. Marcion useth only the 
gospel of Luke, and that mutilated. Never- 



64 EVIDENCES OF 

theless, from what he retains, it may be shown 
he blasphemes the one only God. They who 
divide Jesus from Christ, and say that Christ 
always remained impassible whilst Jesus suf- 
fered, prefer the gospel of Mark. However, 
if they read with a love of truth, they may 
thence be convinced of their error. The 
Valentinians receive the gospel of John entire, 
and by that gospel they may be confuted. 
Since, therefore, persons of opposite senti- 
ments agree with us in making use of this 
testimony, our evidence for the authority of 
these gospels is certain and unquestionable." 
Marcion was excommunicated from the church 
at Sinope, and was altogether in a position 
very antagonistic to the orthodox Christians. 
The heretics generally would have lowered 
the authority of most of the books of the New 
Testament, had it been in their power to 
succeed in such an attempt. 

27. Perhaps, however, the best reason for 
accepting the gospels as the narratives which 
were received by the Christians from the 
earliest periods as authentic relations of the 
history of their faith, is the very important 



CHRISTIANITY. 65 

fact that the evangelical works are those 
referred to by the Epicurean philosopher, 
Celsus, and the other ancient opponents of 
Christianity, as the acknowledged canon of 
the religion. The allusions to the gospels by 
Celsus are explicit and important. He men- 
tions the gospel of St. Matthew by name, and 
refers to a variety of incidents in the life of 
Christ, and to sayings of the Saviour, all of 
which are found in the New Testament. 
None of his objections are grounded upon 
circumstances peculiar to the spurious gospels, 
nor are there any indications of his having 
referred to written sources of information 
other than those which are preserved in the 
genuine Scriptures. If the popular history 
of Jesus had essentially varied at any time 
between the crucifixion and the middle of the 
second century, a period of nearly one hun- 
dred and twenty years, it is incredible that 
such a startling fact should not have been 
well and generally known, and referred to by 
numerous writers, or that an acute opponent 
like Celsus should not have seized with avidity 
and expatiated upon so valid an argument; 



63 EVIDENCES OF 

but no intimation of this kind is given, with 
the exception of an allusion to the alteration 
of certain texts, and the assertion that he 
purposely refrained from recording many 
circumstances relating to the history of Christ 
altogether different from what his disciples 
had reported. That a distinguished critic, 
arguing against Christianity with the utmost 
warmth and hatred to its tenets, and evidently 
with an apprehension of the effects of its pro- 
gress — for otherwise a philosopher would 
hardly have troubled himself to pen a violent 
attack — should have voluntarily omitted the 
most forcible arguments within his reach, is 
inconceivable ; and there can be no doubt that 
the statement is a rhetorical artifice. Neither 
are there any indications in the work of Celsus 
sanctioning a theory that assumes the gradual 
accumulation of stories, relating to the Sa- 
viour, invented as time passed on : for he must 
have known, and in that case would assuredly 
have included the fact in his argument, had 
any of the important circumstances in the life 
of Christ been in his time only recently pub- 
lished; and there was no sufficient period 



CHRISTIANITY. 67 

between the crucifixion and the time at which 
we first hear of the gospels, to sanction the 
opinion that there is a possibility the narratives 
therein contained were mere collections of 
late traditions. The historical origin of the 
events of the life of Jesus was not, like that 
of the tales of the ancient mythology, lost 
in the depths of antiquity. Those events 
belonged to a stated time and period, were 
openly asserted to be connected with numbers 
of persons through whom for long afterwards 
there were the means of forming a correct 
judgment on their credibility, and accounts 
of them were collected together and published 
before the time suitable to the proper for- 
mation of such a judgment had expired. It 
is altogether incredible that a mere series of 
legends could have been framed, and made the 
foundations of a new faith, in the midst of the 
numerous practical tests ready for application 
by any one desiring to expose their fallacy to 
the* public. 

28. No independent contemporary account 
has yet been discovered of the manner in 
which, or the means by which, the religion 



68 EVIDENCES OF 

was founded by the Saviour ; and it is not 
until the lapse of some years after his death, 
that a faint light is thrown on the subject by 
incidental allusions in works composed with 
other designs than that of teaching the world 
facts then well known to the readers to whom 
they were addressed. If, however, the evan- 
gelical narrative be rejected, we are reduced 
to the necessity of supposing either that Jesus 
was received as the Messiah by enthusiastic 
followers on the sole authority of his own 
assertion, without the exhibition of supernatu- 
ral power, or any indications of superiority ; 
or that, if the supposed miraculous perfor- 
mances really took place, they were mere 
deceptions. If the former supposition be 
adopted, it must be believed that the early 
Christians, with inconceivable folly, and an 
utter want of principle, collusively united, 
without the smallest probability of receiving 
any compensation or obtaining any advantages, 
not only in palming upon the world a gigantic 
imposture, but in submitting to refined tor- 
tures, often terminating in death, in support 
of its truth. If the other theory be received, 



CHRISTIANITY. 69 

it must be supposed that a series of fictitious 
miracles was conceived and executed without 
detection, an exploit almost incredible if it 
had been attempted by men surrounded by 
the appliances furnished by wealth, station, 
and influence ; almost an impossibility, if the 
inferior social position of Jesus and his fol- 
lowers be attentively considered. Their low 
temporal condition was as freely acknow- 
ledged by the Christians as it was made a 
ground of objection by their adversaries. 
The evangelists, observes Chrysostom, " have 
related who of the disciples were fishermen, 
and who was a publican ; the former a low, 
the other a disreputable employment; and 
that Philip was not much more honourable, 
appears from his country and the place of his 
nativity." Celsus, the Epicurean, reproaches 
the Saviour with " being attended with ten 
or eleven wicked publicans and mariners, 
going up and down with them, begging his 
bread from door to door, like a base and most 
miserable creature." Although this is some- 
what an exaggeration, there can be no doubt 
that Christ and his immediate followers were 



70 EVIDENCES OF 

entirely destitute of worldly position, a cir- 
cumstance which increases greatly the im- 
probability of the religion having been esta- 
blished without the assistance of the miracles 
which are recorded in the gospels. 

29. These miracles are too numerous, and 
for the most part too circumstantially related, 
to sanction the possibility of their having 
been deceptively executed by persons situated 
in the circumstances of Jesus and his fol- 
lowers, without means or influence, and sur- 
rounded by numerous enemies. At the same 
time, it must be conceded that the production 
of evidence sufficient to prove absolutely the 
truth of any supposable isolated miracle, 
alleged to have occurred in ancient times, is 
nearly if not quite impracticable under any 
conditions known to us. In most of the re- 
corded cases of the healing of bodily sick- 
nesses by divine interposition, only two per- 
sons can know for certain there is an absence 
of deception, — the individual who proclaims 
to exercise the power, and the person bene- 
fited. To select a familiar example, relating 
to events nearer to our own times. — Let it 



CHRISTIANITY. 71 

be supposed that the best-informed contem- 
porary historians related that when King 
John was lying at Swineshead Abbey in the 
extremity of sickness, Peter the Hermit ap- 
proached his couch, and by a touch restored 
him to health. If such a story were promul- 
gated on the best authority, with the written 
evidences of the witnesses of the occurrence, 
it would still be fairly in our discretion to 
doubt the fact, to conjecture the illness were 
counterfeited for the sake of affording the 
opportunity for establishing the miracle, or 
even that the touch of the hermit were, by a 
singular coincidence, simultaneous with a 
sudden and extraordinary natural effort re- 
lieving the patient. It would be in our 
election to discredit the truth of such a 
miracle, however strongly supported, because 
it would not seem in itself credible that God 
would interrupt the natural workings of his 
laws to preserve the life of a worthless 
monarch, in a case where the success of no 
great plan of salvation or religious progress 
was involved. But if the advent of Peter the 
Hermit had been for centuries foretold in 



72 EVIDENCES OF 

prophetic writings believed to have been in- 
spired, if it bad been reported that be had in 
open day performed a series of miracles, and 
if in consequence of the character of his 
teachings and works, multitudes of people 
accepted the reality of his divine mission, and 
died or suffered almost incredible tortures in 
support of its truth ; and if, in addition to 
this, it were clearly seen that the coming of 
the Hermit were the crowning termination to 
a grand scheme for the everlasting benefit of 
the whole human race, although this miracle, 
or any other of the miracles, taken singly, 
were not to be strictly proved, a rejection of 
their credibility would be accompanied with 
a far more serious degree of responsibility 
than could be attached to the reception or re- 
jection of the miraculous character of a soli- 
tary preternatural event, unattended by mo- 
mentous consequences. 

30. It may be questioned if the strict 
proof of any miracle could be substantiated 
at a period long after the time of its occur- 
rence. In cases where the evangelical ac- 
count is very circumstantial, as in the narra- 



CHRISTIANITY. 73 

tive of the cure of the blind man in the ninth 
chapter of St. John, good corroborative testi- 
mony must have remained accessible for 
6ome years after the event happened; but, 
at the present day, such instances of detail 
cannot be fairly said to prove the fact of a 
miracle, however greatly they undoubtedly 
add to the. probability of the truth of it, for 
the obvious reason that an inventor would 
scarcely have ventured to surround a fiction 
with such particularities. This and the other 
miracles now, however, take their standing 
of credibility chiefly on evidence that refers 
to the general truth of the entire evangelical 
narrative, rather than on that which can be 
produced in support of any one separately. 
The affidavits of the men who were miracu- 
lously fed in the desert, if produced, would 
probably tell no more than the relief of their 
hunger by the apparently supernatural mul- 
tiplication of food at the hands of the apostles, 
in a case where, to the best of their belief, no 
provision had been previously made. It is 
inconceivable that such a miracle could have 
been deceptively executed; but still the 



74 EVIDENCES OF 

suggested impossibility of producing a legal 
demonstration of the absence of fraud is not 
affected by that consideration. A similar re- 
mark applies to the great majority of the 
miracles recorded in the gospels, a perfect 
belief in which must be left in some measure 
to individual faith. It is an error to conceal 
this obvious truth, or to attempt to produce 
absolute proof of that which was ever in- 
tended to be a trial of faith — an essential test 
of the presence of religious feeling, of a ten- 
dency to confide in the providential arrange- 
ments of God, terminating in absolute belief 
when assisted by circumstances showing a 
high probability of the exercise of that pro- 
vidence. Were it otherwise, the purport 
of the continual and urgent inculcation of 
the importance and necessity of faith, which 
pervades the whole of the New Testament, 
would be inexplicable. Some of the miracles 
of Christ were even performed in return, 
or as a reward, for the exercise of faith; 
and, in one place, it is stated that he declined 
to exert his power beyond a limited extent 
where it was wholly deficient. When the 



CHRISTIANITY. 75 

woman of Canaan solicited his fiat for the 
recovery of her daughter, he is expressly af- 
firmed to have granted her wish on account 
of her genuine sincere belief in his divine 
power. The same spirit pervades many of 
the other accounts of miracles recorded in the 
gospels; but perhaps the most striking evi- 
dence of the Saviour's own opinion of the 
necessity of faith, and of the difficulty he 
foresaw would attend the reception of the 
new religion in the minds of those who are 
inclined to insist on the production of strict 
proof as a prelude to belief, is the narrative, 
familiar to us all, of the apostle Thomas, re- 
corded by St. John, xx. 24 — 29 ; a relation 
which shows indisputably that a certain 
degree of faith will be required from the 
followers of Christ. It is of course easy to 
enquire and to wonder at the necessity of 
this ; to ask why the certainty of revelation 
was not written in the firmament; in the 
same spirit in which the question is asked, in 
Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the 
Jew, why God did not destroy Herod, instead 
of rendering necessary the flight of Jesus 



76 EVIDENCES OF 

into Egypt ; or to adduce many other sugges- 
tions that could be answered with difficulty, 
or only by conjecture, as in like manner per- 
plexing and unanswerable enquiries can be 
adduced respecting the providential arrange- 
ments of the material creation. But, setting 
aside the possibility of faith being a mental 
element essential to a religious spirit, there 
may be cogent reasons why the revelation of 
immortality should be surrounded by a certain 
proportion of mystery. 

31. A degree of obscurity in revelation 
may be regarded as essential to the present 
order of the world. We may reasonably be 
assured, although we now but see through a 
glass darkly, that as much of God's will is 
revealed as is consistent with the continuance 
of mankind in an imperfect state of existence. 
Why we should have been created at all is 
not in itself a less perplexing question than 
why we should have not been created in per- 
fection, without the possibility of the occur- 
rence of any circumstances entailing the 
entrance of sin and misery ; but accepting 
the world as it is, and assuming that the 



CHRISTIANITY. 77 

beings living upon it were created for some 
kind of purpose, and were not the offspring 
of chance ; believing further in the possibility 
of some method being adopted to give to the 
human race a knowledge of the means of 
salvation, — it was essential that the informa- 
tion should be conveyed in a manner which 
would not absolutely interfere with, if it did 
not assist, the transactions and progress of 
life. Hence, the parabolical language of the 
Saviour in all that relates to the exact condi- 
tion of the life after death. Were the hap- 
piness and glories of a future state distinctly 
revealed, or so certainly set before us as to 
physically prove to all the spiritual change 
effected by dissolution, the probability is that 
we should be totally unfitted for and disre- 
gard altogether the work of this life, lost in 
the contemplation of that which would render 
the world an object of no concern. The 
mystery attending the Christian revelation is 
probably essential to the sustentation of the 
present condition of the human race ; and so 
far from this constituting a difficulty requiring 
explanation, it is really, if not an evidence, 



78 EVIDENCES OF 

at least a circumstance favourable to a belief 
in the divine authority of the religion. The 
authors of other creeds, such as Mohammed, 
describe a paradise adapted to the desires and 
expectations of their followers, whom, we are 
told by the prophet of Mecca, (e shall dwell 
in gardens of delight ; youths, who shall con- 
tinue in their bloom for ever, shall go round 
about to attend them with goblets and 
beakers, and a cup of flowing wine ; their 
heads shall not ache by drinking the same, 
neither shall their reason be disturbed ; and 
with fruits of the roots which they shall 
choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind 
which they shall desire; and there shall 
accompany them fair damsels, having large 
black eyes, resembling pearls hidden in their 
shells, as a reward for that which they have 
wrought." Jesus, on the contrary, by his 
disinclination to enter fully into the subject, 
assumes that the nature of a future reward 
would be unintelligible to the finite human 
intellect. The utmost explanation vouchsafed 
to us is that, " in the resurrection, they 
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but 



CHRISTIANITY. 79 

are as the angels of God in heaven." Thus 
even the Christian's reward for faith is, as to 
its exact nature, itself a subject of faith. 

32. While, however, asserting that faith is 
an essential element in a complete and perfect 
belief in the Christian religion, it must not 
be assumed that it is a blind acceptance of a 
creed on the arbitrary decree of authority 
that is required ; but rather a faith exerting 
itself in unison with intellectual enquiry and 
scientific investigation. No doubt, it is 
gratifying to believers, and sometimes per- 
haps a subject of envy to sceptics, to witness 
the simple trusting faith of the single-minded ; 
but in every large civilized society there will 
ever exist a considerable number, and those 
amongst the influential and the leaders of 
public opinion, who will require some reasons 
for the acceptance of a creed, before yielding 
to evidences of an internal character. It 
has been providentially ordered for the best 
interests of the human race, which are indis- 
solubly connected with the progress of 
'Christianity, that the truth of the religion, 
like the truth of the existence of a God, 



80 EVIDENCES OF 

although not admitting of what may be 
termed strict demonstration, is subject to the 
production of testimonies rendering it suscep- 
tible of the highest degree of probability. 
Enough, and more than enough, can be 
proved to satisfy the reasonable demands of 
any one who is at all desirous of believing. 
Were the evidences far stronger, they would 
not suffice to convince those who approach 
the subject with a rigid determination to re- 
quire a kind of testimony inaccessible under 
the circumstances, or with a heart altogether 
predisposed to reject the doctrines of the 
gospel. In respect to any occurrence which 
took place at so remote a period, bearing 
reference to the establishment of a new reli- 
gion by the aid of miracles, it is scarcely 
possible to imagine a species of evidence the 
effects of which could not be neutralized by 
the intimation of some adverse argument ; 
nor could absolutely demonstrative testimony 
exist at the present day without the continued 
operation of a special divine intervention. 
Strict legal proof of the gospel narrative is 
certainly unattainable ; but it must be borne 



CHRISTIANITY. 81 

in mind that the same condition attends most 
if not all the records of events in ancient 
history, which would generally fail to carry 
the conviction of their truth to modern en- 
quirers, were they subjected to the same tests 
which are demanded by infidels to be applied 
in considering the probability of the correct- 
ness of the relations transmitted to us by the 
evangelists. The reasonings of modern op- 
ponents of Christianity are frequently dis- 
tinguished by the imposition of conditions 
inconsistent with the state of the historical 
remains of antiquity. 

33. Another kind of unfairness to which 
the arguments in favour of the Christian 
belief are often subjected is the absolute re- 
jection of the best testimonies that can possibly 
be obtained, — the evidences of persons who 
witnessed the miraculous events recorded in 
the gospels, and who were by that means 
converts to the faith. Those who were not 
converted were either Jews, whose strongest 
prejudices were offended by the unostentatious 
appearance of the Messiah, and who insisted 
on his miracles being impostures, or attributed 

G 



82 EVIDENCES OF 

them to magic ; or heathens, whose prepos- 
sessions against a religion subverting the 
ancient faith were equally antagonistic to a 
reception of the truth. It may be fairly as- 
sumed that, excepting in rare instances, those 
who saw any considerable number of the 
miracles could not but be convinced, in their 
hearts, of the divine nature of the mission of 
Christ ; so that there is small probability of 
our obtaining any detailed account of the life 
of the Saviour, excepting from the believers 
who witnessed his works, trials, and sufferings. 
If, then, such records are to be questioned 
as deriving their statements from assumed 
interested and biassed writers, whom other- 
wise are we to trust? If the events really 
happened in the manner described, who could 
be expected to furnish the information re- 
specting them but those who were eye-wit- 
nesses and who believed? If they did not 
happen, surely some of the contemporary 
writers of history would have suppressed the 
new faith, in its first great progress, by 
stating distinctly on incontrovertible evidence 
they were imaginary. The truth of the 



CHRIS T I AN IT Y. 83 

religion did not, for some time after its com- 
mencement, depend on circumstances deliver- 
ed to the world, and accepted by fanatics 
without the opportunity of an application of 
the test of evidence, but on intelligible records 
of mighty works, the believers in which were 
surrounded by many who, in Judea at least, 
had for years the opportunity not only of 
personally investigating the secondary evi- 
dences of the Christian miracles, but who 
must have met numbers who could have at 
once exposed beyond contradiction the fallacy 
of the new belief, had it rested on baseless 
foundations. When, therefore, it is considered 
how numerous were the tests of its truth or 
falsehood that could then have been applied, 
how liable every statement respecting Christ 
must have been to adverse criticism, and for 
how long a period there was a possibility of 
exposing any grand scheme of deception, had 
the religion partaken of that character, instead 
of attempting the impracticable task of ad- 
ducing proof of miracles which are not, by 
their very nature, susceptible of such a trial 
of authenticity, it will be sufficient to satisfy 



84 EVIDENCES OF 

the candid enquirer to enunciate the following 
position, which can be sustained by testi- 
monies of indisputable authenticity ; — if the 
Christian religion be true, and if the events 
recorded in the gospels really did take place, 
we should possess the same evidence on the 
subject which is now accessible. 

34. The principal witnesses of the events in 
the life of Christ were the Jews. This people 
had long been expecting the promised Messiah, 
exulting in the anticipation of his temporal 
rather than his spiritual power, and, in the 
midst of their degradation, looking forward to 
unquestioned visions of freedom, political re- 
generation, and national glory. According to 
Tacitus, speaking of the state of the Jews 
previously to the destruction of Jerusalem, — 
" the generality had a strong persuasion it 
was set down in the ancient writings of the 
priests that, at that very time, the east should 
prevail; and that some who came out of 
Judea should obtain the empire of the world ; 
which ambiguities foretold Yespasian and 
Titus ; but the common people, having once 
appropriated to themselves this vast grandeur 



CHRISTIANITY. 85 

of the fates, could not be brought to under- 
stand the true meaning by all their adver- 
sities." These cherished expectations, however 
in some respects natural, were destined to 
result in bitter disappointment. It is scarcely 
possible to imagine the extent to which their 
prejudices must have been affected, when 
they were not only told that these hopes were 
fallacious, but that all idea of worldly pre- 
eminence amongst the nations of the earth 
was to be abandoned, the efficiency of the 
splendid ritual of their religion impaired, and 
that henceforth they were to reject all prospect 
of aggrandizement in favour of a child, sprung 
from the humbler ranks of society, cradled in 
a manger, afterwards a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief, and ultimately to ac- 
cept a person executed as a malefactor for the 
long-promised Messiah. It cannot then be 
a matter of surprise that numbers amongst 
the Jews should have entertained an invincible 
repugnance to the reception of the new re- 
ligion ; but rather a subject for wonder that 
so many of them should have risked their 
position, and endured persecution for his sake. 



86 EVIDENCES OF 

But it is singular, and most extraordinary, if 
the supernatural works of Christ are assumed 
to be inventions or delusions, although the 
religion he established spread with marvellous 
rapidity throughout Judea, and in less than 
a century had penetrated to most portions of 
the ancient world, during that time not a 
single one amongst the Jewish writers, many of 
whom were the most interested in exposing an 
imposture, should have been induced to write 
a treatise against the Christian faith ; leaving 
any effort of the kind to heathen philosophers, 
who had no personal knowledge of the sub- 
ject, and could not have derived information 
from trustworthy witnesses. The exposure 
of the deceptive performance of a single 
miracle would have sufficed to have thrown 
discredit on the whole of the history which 
referred to the new dispensation. The Jews 
had every means of detecting an imposition ; 
they could have appealed to testimonies of 
undoubted authenticity; and the circum- 
stance of their not adopting this efficient 
method of stifling the religion in its earlier 
stages, is a strong argument in favour of an 



CHRISTIANITY. 87 

opinion that the alternative was one beyond 
their control. 

35. Instead of pursuing this course, the 
ancient Hebrew writers either maintain a 
studied silence, give utterance to general 
statements unsupported by valid authority, 
or, in what they say, confirm the gospel nar- 
rative. The intentional omission of reference 
to the Christian faith is exhibited, in a re- 
markable manner, in the instance of the Mish- 
na, a work containing a large number of 
Jewish traditions, compiled about a.d. 180, 
in which no mention whatever is made of 
Christianity, although there is an entire divi- 
sion in the work on strange and idolatrous 
worship. At this period the religion had 
spread to an extraordinary extent. The earli- 
est Hebrew author of any importance, who 
notices the subject, is Josephus, who wrote 
towards the close of the first century, and who 
thus alludes to the Saviour, in a paragraph 
here divested of its interpolations as settled 
by Gieseler, an eminent German critic, who 
certainly does not err on the side of faith, — 
" About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, 



88 EVIDENCES OF 

who performed many wonderful works ; and 
drew over to himself many Jews and many 
from the Grecian people ; and though Pilate, 
at the instigation of the chief men among us, 
condemned him to the punishment of the cross, 
yet they who had conceived an affection for 
him, did not cease to adhere to him, and the 
sect of the Christians, so called from him, 
subsists to this time." This passage, with addi- 
tions of a doubtful character, is found in every 
ancient copy of Josephus, is quoted by Euse- 
bius, a.d. 315, was never questioned as spu- 
rious until the sixteenth century, and there is 
no sufficient pretence for believing any por- 
tion of that above given to be an interpolation; 
but if it be, it is clear, from the considerations 
above adduced, the silence of Josephus would 
be no argument against the truth of Christi- 
anity. At the time he wrote, the Christian 
religion was a subj ect of notoriety, and it cannot 
be doubted, as he was not only not a believer, 
but belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, the 
enemies of Christ, he would, had it been 
possible, have adduced statements against its 
authenticity. 



CHRISTIANITY. 89 

36. The same writer, Josephus, has recorded 
an interesting notice of John the Baptist. 
After mentioning the defeat of Herod's army 
by Aretas, he observes, — " Some of the Jews 
were of opinion God had suffered Herod's 
army to be destroyed as a just punishment on 
him for the death of John, called the Baptist; 
for Herod had killed him, who was a just 
man, and had called upon the Jews to be bap- 
tized, and to practise virtue, exercising both 
justice toward men, and piety toward God ; 
for so would baptism be acceptable to God, if 
they made use of it, not for the expiation of 
their sins, but for the purity of the body, the 
mind being first purified by righteousness. 
And many coming to him, for they were 
wonderfully taken with his discourses, Herod 
was seized with apprehensions, lest by his 
authority they should be led into sedition 
against him; for they seemed capable of 
undertaking anything by his direction. Herod 
therefore thought it better to take him off 
before any disturbance happened, than to run 
the risk of a change of affairs, and of repenting 
when it should be too late to remedy disorders. 



90 EVIDENCES OF 

Being taken up upon this suspicion of Herod, 
and being sent bound to the castle of Ma- 
chaerus, he was slain there." Josephus also 
alludes to Herod's connection with his bro- 
ther's wife, Herodias, which was indeed the 
occasion of the war with Aretas ; but he does 
not appear to have been acquainted with the 
immediate cause that led to the execution of 
John. The variations between the account 
of him in Josephus and that in the gospels 
preclude the suggestion that the former can 
have been an interpolation, while it agrees 
sufficiently in the main points to be considered 
an important testimony in favour of the au- 
thenticity of the evangelical narrative. Both 
authorities testify to the popularity of the 
Baptist, and the Jewish historian, not being 
acquainted with the incident that preceded 
his execution, very naturally ascribed it to a 
political motive on the part of Herod. 

37. Josephus, notwithstanding the oppor- 
tunities he possessed of obtaining correct 
information on the subject, having been born 
only a few years after the crucifixion, was 
not a Christian. He attended carefully to 



CHRISTIANITY. 91 

the advancement of his worldly interests, and 
independently of the circumstance of his being 
a Pharisee, was a very unlikely person to 
forsake all, and follow the lowly disciples of 
the Saviour. It is obviously no substantial 
argument against the truth of the religion, 
that so many of the Jews were unbelievers. 
That they who embraced the faith should have 
become enthusiasts, having possessed the in- 
estimable privilege of witnessing the Saviour's 
works and ministry, was to have been ex- 
pected ; and that there were many whose 
prejudices could not be overcome, is also what 
migh have been anticipated. Forsaken by 
the main body of the people, persecuted by 
the rulers, and execrated by many of the 
ancient priesthood, the followers of the Sa- 
viour were compelled to surrender all hopes 
in this world to publish the tidings of salvation 
to the nations of the earth. However wonder- 
ful may have been his works, had they been 
far more imposing than those which are re- 
lated by the evangelists, it is contrary to all 
experience of human nature to expect that 
more than a limited number of persons could 



92 EVIDENCES OF 

be found who would sever all earthly ties, 
resign the hopes of life, surrender the dearest 
prepossessions, and voluntarily endure dis- 
grace and persecution for the sake of a spiritual 
ruler who promised no compensation or re- 
ward in this world, but, on the contrary, 
warned them of the sufferings they must 
undergo, if they enlisted under the banners 
of the faith. It was foreseen that an imperfect 
external conformity to the ancient ritual 
would be wholly insufficient to reconcile most 
of the Jews to the reception of the liberal 
tenets of Christianity. 

38. At the first establishment of the Chris- 
tian church after the ascension, the apostles 
did not at once abandon the Jewish law, but 
the Saviour himself had expressed his con- 
tempt for mere external ceremonies, and there 
can be no doubt that many of the Jews rightly 
considered the tendency of the new mission 
was to lower the authority of the Mosaic code, 
and that, in practice, the reception of the 
Christian religion was antagonistic to the 
validity of the Jewish ceremonial law, and to 
the authority of the priesthood. At the time 



CHRISTIANITY. 93 

of Christ, the Hebrew religion had become 
little more than the result of an obstinate 
attachment to external observances, unaccom- 
panied with a trace of genuine religious feeling. 
The exact history of the relations between 
the Christians and the Jews during the life 
of Jesus, and for some years afterwards, is 
chiefly to be gathered from the works of 
Christian writers. From these it appears that 
the apostles at first considered it necessary 
even for the heathens to subscribe partially to 
the Jewish law on their conversion to Chris- 
tianity, and that it was not until the period 
of the ministry of St. Paul, the true spiritual 
character of Christianity, as taught by its 
founder, was fully appreciated and developed. 
But, in the estimation of the strict Jew, there 
must always have been much in the Christian 
religion at variance with the complete obser- 
vance of the Mosaic law, and even the Juda- 
izing Christians must have been objects of 
suspicion, as they certainly were, at a later 
period, about A. d. 70, of bitter hatred to the 
unbelieving Jews. The earliest notice of an 
enmity between the Jews and Christians, in 



94 EVIDENCES OF 

heathen works, is in the passage before quoted 
from Suetonius, who informs us that, in the 
reign of Claudius, between a.d. 41 and a.d. 
54, there was a dispute at Rome between the 
believing and unbelieving Jews of so serious 
a character, that they were expelled the city. 
The antipathy of the Jews to the members 
of the new religion continued to increase, and 
the rabbins ultimately made a strict rule that 
no Jew should converse with a Christian, or 
listen to any discourse on the evidences of 
the new faith (Dial. Tryph. 38). They even 
went to the length of anathematizing the 
Christians in their synagogues. This, says 
Justin Martyr, addressing the Jews, (i is all 
you can do. You have not now the power 
of killing us yourselves, because others have 
the governing of things ; but this you have 
done, whenever you have been able. Nor 
have any other people showed so much enmity 
against us and Christ as you, who have been 
likewise the authors of all those prejudices, 
which others have conceived against that 
righteous person and us his followers. For 
after that you had crucified that one unblame- 



CHRISTIANITY. 95 

able and righteous man ; when you knew that 
he was risen from the dead, and ascended up 
into heaven, according as the prophecies had 
foretold he should, you were so far from 
repenting of your evil deeds, that you sent 
out from Jerusalem chosen men into all the 
world, giving out that the sect of the Chris- 
tians is atheistical, and saying all those evil 
things of us, which they, who know us not, 
do still say of us." A similar observation is 
made by Tertullian, — " the Jews were the 
principal authors of the evil reports which 
were spread abroad concerning the Christians." 
In another place the same writer (Apol. 7) 
speaks of the Jews as the natural rivals of 
Christianity, and the evidence of numerous 
early authors confirms the statement of the 
gospels that Jesus was condemned by Pontius 
Pilate at their instigation. This fact might 
indeed be regarded as nearly proved by the 
relation of Tacitus, for had the Saviour been 
executed for the supposed commission of a 
moral offence, the circumstance would in all 
probability have been mentioned. 

39. After Pontius Pilate had assented to 



96 EVIDENCES OF 

the condemnation of Christ, there seems 
reason for believing that he forwarded an 
account of the transaction to the Emperor 
Tiberius, or, at all events, that he mentioned 
some particulars relating to Jesus in the re- 
ports, called Acts, which it was then customary 
for the rulers of the provinces under the 
Roman sway to send periodically or at inter- 
vals to the head seat of government. Justin 
Martyr, addressing the emperor Antoninus 
and the senate of Rome, about A. D. 140, in 
allusion to the crucifixion, and some of the 
circumstances attending it, adds, — " and that 
these things were so done, you may know 
from the Acts made in the time of Pontius 
Pilate." He again uses' similar words, 
appealing to the same authority, with refer- 
ence to some of the miracles which fulfilled 
a prophecy of Isaiah, — " at his coming, the 
lame shall leap like a stag, and the tongue of 
the dumb shall be eloquent, the lepers shall 
be cleansed, and the dead shall rise and walk 
about ; and how he performed these miracles, 
you may easily be satisfied from the Acts of 
Pontius Pilate." It seems very unlikely, if 



CHRISTIANITY. 97 

authentic copies of such records were not, in 
his time, preserved at Rome, Justin would 
have ventured to refer to them in addressing 
readers who would have been enabled to test 
the accuracy of such a statement. Whatever 
may have been the nature of Pilate's com- 
munications to the government, the fact of 
his having made a report on certain matters 
relating to Christ is of importance as showing 
they were at least amongst the notorious 
events that had then occurred in Judea. The 
circumstances that Acts of Pontius Pilate 
were forged at an early period by the enemies 
of the Christians, and that the second title of 
one of the apocryphal gospels was thus given, 
presuppose the fact that such documents had 
been at some time in existence. Tertullian, 
also, who wrote in the year 198, affirms that 
Pilate sent an account to Tiberius of occur- 
rences evidencing the divinity of Christ, 
adding that it was proposed but without 
success to receive Jesus as one of the nume- 
rous deities in the pantheon of the ancient 
gods ; a statement not invalidated by the 
objection usually urged against its reception, 



98 EVIDENCES OF 

as it appears from Suetonius that the senate 
rejected similar proposals, on other occasions, 
without giving offence to Tiberius. Ac- 
cording to Tertullian, that emperor was in- 
clined to favour the Christians, but, if so, it 
was probably his object to propitiate a section 
of the people by consenting to admit the 
founder of their religion amidst the objects 
of the ancient worship, not with the idea that 
any risk of overthrowing the latter was in- 
volved. It may be that a band of Christians, 
refusing to join in the worship of the gods, 
became subjects of notoriety and persecution, 
and that Tiberius, to put an end to what he 
might consider an unnecessary inconvenience, 
adopted that which appeared to him the most 
obvious method of reconciling the parties, by 
adding one more to the already extended 
order of deities, not fancying that so bold an 
object as the subversion of the national faith 
could have been entertained. " Search your 
own writings," says Tertullian, addressing 
the Romans, " and you will there find that 
Nero was the first emperor who exercised any 
acts of severity towards the Christians, 



CHRISTIANITY. 99 

because they were then very numerous at 
Rome." In other words, previously to the 
time of Nero, they were not sufficiently 
numerous or influential at Rome to raise a 
serious apprehension of danger to the ancient 
religion. The earliest Christians, as has 
been observed, were chiefly persons moving 
in the humbler ranks of society. The em- 
peror Julian, one of the bitterest adversaries 
of Christianity, after mentioning the conver- 
sion of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and 
Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, says, 
— " if there were any other men of eminence 
brought over to you in the times of Tiberius 
and Claudius (that is, before A. D. 54), let 
me pass for a liar in everything I say." 
When the Christians increased so rapidly in 
numbers and importance, it was discovered 
that they were sapping the foundations of the 
heathen mythology, the indignation of the 
priests and their numerous followers soon 
exhibited itself in the most bitter hatred and 
persecution, which culminated in the out- 
rages recorded by Tacitus. 

40. The records respecting the various 



100 EVIDENCES OF 

persecutions of the Christians in the first 
century are incomplete and unsatisfactory; 
but a notice of a general one in the reign of 
the emperor Domitian, a.d. 96, is recorded 
by Eusebius, supported by the testimony of 
heathen authors, — " moreover, at this time 
the doctrine of our faith was so conspicuous, 
that writers averse to our sentiments have 
not forborne to insert in their histories an 
account of this persecution, and the martyr- 
doms that happened in it. They have like- 
wise exactly marked the time it occurred, 
relating that, in the fifteenth year of Domitian, 
Flavia Domitilla, niece by the sister's side to 
Flavius Clemens, then one of the consuls of 
Rome, and a great many others, were banished 
to the island of Pontia for the profession of 
the Christian religion." In another place, 
he cites, as an authority for part of this state- 
ment, Bruttius, a Roman author of the second 
century ; — " and Bruttius writes that many 
Christians suffered martyrdom under Domi- 
tian ; among whom was Flavia Domitilla, 
niece by the sister's side to Flavius Clemens 
the consul, who was banished to the island of 



CHRISTIANITY. 101 

Pontia, because she confessed herself to be a 
Christian." The cell inhabited by Flavia in 
her exile continued to be pointed out, as a 
locality of interest to Christians, long after 
her death. 

41. The short reign of Nerva, from a.d. 
96 to A. d. 98, appears to have been in some 
degree favourable to the liberty of the Chris- 
tians. At least, there is no record of their 
having been selected for molestation during 
the rule of that sovereign, whose liberal and 
judicious edicts were opposed to the system 
of inquisitorial persecution adopted by his 
predecessors ; but it may be questioned if the 
Christians wholly escaped the consequences 
of popular hatred, or if the standing laws of 
the country were not put in force against 
them. The personal views of the emperors 
towards the converts, however inclined to 
leniency, could not always have effectually 
stayed the torrent of public dislike and in- 
dignation. During the next reign, that of 
Trajan, who ruled from a.d. 98 to a.d. 117, 
it is found that the repression of Christianity 
throughout the Roman empire was accepted 



102 EVIDENCES OF 

as an established duty on the part of the 
government, as much as was that of the 
punishment of the basest crimes. In this 
reign, Pliny, having been appointed governor 
of Bithynia, a.d. 106, finding himself in the 
midst of a general crusade against the Chris- 
tians, then very numerous in that country, 
was perplexed as to the extent to which he 
should countenance the popular feeling against 
them. Under these circumstances, soon after 
he commenced the government of the province, 
he addressed a letter (a.d. 107) to the em- 
peror, soliciting explicit instructions on the 
subject. It appears from this correspondence, 
which is of undoubted authenticity, being 
fortunately preserved in Pliny's Letters, the 
Christians were accused by secret informers, 
and were brought to trial, convicted and 
executed, by the ordinary laws of the Romans 
established against nonconformists, without 
the additional authority of an edict from the 
emperor; a circumstance which seems to 
prove satisfactorily that the profession of the 
Christian religion had always been attended 
with danger. Pliny's letter is also of great 



CHRISTIANITY. 103 

value as an independent evidence of the purity 
of the doctrine of the early Christians, and of 
their devotion to the faith in the midst of a 
virulent persecution. 

42. Pliny's Letter to the Emperor Trajan. — 
" It is a rule, sir, which I inviolably observe, 
to refer myself to you in all my doubts ; for 
who is more capable of removing my scruples, 
or informing my ignorance ? Having never 
been present at any trials concerning those 
persons who are Christians, I am unacquainted, 
not only with the nature of their crimes, or 
the measure of their punishment, but how 
far it is proper to enter into an examination 
concerning them. Whether, therefore, any 
difference is usually made with respect to the 
ages of the guilty, or no distinction is to be 
observed between the young and the adult ; 
whether repentance entitles them to a pardon, 
or, if a man has been once a Christian, it 
avails nothing to desist from his error; whether 
the very profession of Christianity unattended 
with any criminal act, or only the crimes 
themselves inherent in the profession, are 
punishable ; in all these points I am greatly 



104 EVIDENCES OF 

doubtful. In the mean while, the method I 
have observed towards those who have been 
brought before me as Christians, is this ; — I 
interrogated them whether they were Chris- 
tians ; if they confessed, I repeated the ques- 
tion twice, adding threats at the same time ; 
and if they still persevered, I ordered them 
to be immediately punished. For I was 
persuaded, whatever the nature of their opi- 
nions might be, a contumacious and inflexible 
obstinacy certainly deserved correction. There 
were others also brought before me possessed 
with the same infatuation; but, being citizens 
of Rome, I directed that they should be 
conveyed thither. But this crime spreading, 
as is usually the case, while it was actually 
under prosecution, several instances of the 
same nature occurred. An information was 
presented to me without any name subscribed, 
containing a charge against several persons ; 
these, upon examination, denied they were, 
or ever had been, Christians. They repeated 
after me an invocation to the gods, and offered 
religious rites with wines and frankincense 
before your statue, which for that purpose I 



CHRISTIANITY. 105 

had ordered to be brought, together with 
those of the gods, and even reviled the name 
of Christ ; whereas there is no forcing, it is 
said, those who are really Christians into any 
of these compliances; I thought it proper, 
therefore, to discharge them. Some among 
those who were accused by a witness in per- 
son, at first confessed themselves Christians, 
but immediately after denied it; the rest owned, 
indeed, they had been of that number for- 
merly, but had now, some above three, others 
more, and a few above twenty years ago, 
renounced that error. They all worshipped 
your statue, and the images of the gods, 
uttering imprecations at the same time against 
the name of Christ. They affirmed the whole 
of their guilt, or their error, was, that they 
met on a certain stated day before it was light, 
and addressed themselves in a form of prayer 
(or hymn) to Christ, as to some god, binding 
themselves by a solemn oath, not for the 
purposes of any wicked design, but never to 
commit any fraud, theft, or adultery ; never 
to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when 
they should be called upon to deliver it up ; 



106 EVIDENCES 01 

after which, it was their custom to separate, 
and then reassemble, to eat in common a 
harmless meal. From this custom, however, 
they desisted after the publication of my edict, 
by which, according to your commands, I 
forbade the meeting of any assemblies. In 
consequence of this their declaration, I judged 
it the more necessary to endeavour to extort 
the real truth, by putting two female slaves 
to the torture, who were said to officiate in 
their religious functions; but all I could 
discover was, that these people were actuated 
by a false and excessive superstition. I 
deemed it expedient, therefore, to adjourn all 
further proceedings, in order to consult you ; 
for it appears to be a matter highly deserving 
your consideration ; more especially as great 
numbers must be involved in the danger of 
these prosecutions, which have already ex- 
tended, and are still likely to extend, to persons 
of all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes. 
In fact, this contagious superstition is not 
confined to the cities only, but has spread its 
infection among the neighbouring villages 
and country. Nevertheless, it still seems 



CHRISTIANITY. 107 

possible to restrain its progress. The temples, 
at least, which were once almost deserted, 
begin now to be frequented ; and the sacred 
solemnities, after a long intermission, are re- 
vived; to which I must add, there is again 
also a general demand for the victims, which 
for some time past had met with but few 
purchasers. From the circumstances I have 
mentioned, it is easy to conjecture what num- 
bers might be reclaimed, if a general pardon 
were granted to those who shall repent of 
their error." 

43. The Emperor's Reply to Pliny.—" The 
method you have pursued, my dear Pliny, in 
the proceedings against those Christians which 
were brought before you, is extremely proper; 
as it is not possible to lay down any fixed 
rule by which to act in all cases of this nature. 
But I would not have you officiously enter 
into any enquiries concerning them. If, in- 
deed, they should be brought before you, and 
the crime should be proved, they must be 
punished; with this restriction, however, that 
where the party denies he is a Christian, 
and shall make it evident that he is not, by 



108 EVIDENCES OF 

invoking our gods ; let him, notwithstanding 
any former suspicion, be pardoned upon his 
repentance. Informations, without the ac- 
cuser's name subscribed, ought not to be re- 
ceived in prosecutions of any sort; as it is 
introducing a very dangerous precedent, and 
by no means agreeable to the equity of my 
government." 

44. In Tertullian's Apology for the Chris- 
tians, addressed to the Romans towards the 
close of the second century, is an interesting 
allusion to the preceding letter of Pliny, 
charging them with the inconsistencies in- 
volved in the persecution of the members of 
the new faith solely on account of their re- 
ligion. There was a constant struggle going 
on, in the minds of the best informed and 
most liberal amongst the judges, between a 
sense of justice and the necessity of pander- 
ing to the strong views and fears of the 
many interested in the sustentation of the 
ancient polytheism. The passage in Tertul- 
lian is somewhat discursive, but its length 
may well be excused for the sake of the 
insight it gives into the kind of argument the 



CHRISTIANITY. 109 

Christians were wont to use to their oppres- 
sors, at so early a period, — " Pliny the Se- 
cond, in his proconsulship of Asia, having 
put many Christians to death, and turned 
others out of their places, and being still as- 
tonished at our numbers, sends to the emperor 
Trajan for orders for future proceedings ; 
alleging withal that, for his part, after the 
strictest enquiry, he could find nothing more 
in our religion but obstinacy against sacri- 
ficing to the gods, and that we assembled 
before day to sing hymns to God and Christ, 
and to confirm one another in that way of 
worship, prohibiting all sorts of wickedness. 
Upon which information Trajan returns for 
answer, that such kind of men as these were 
not to be searched after, but yet to be 
punished if brought before him. O per- 
plexity between reasons of state and justice ! 
He declares us to be innocent by forbidding 
us to be searched after, and at the same time 
commands us to be punished as criminals. 
What a mass of kindness and cruelty, con- 
nivance and punishment, is here confounded 
in one act ! Unhappy edict, thus to circum- 



110 EVIDENCES OF 

vent and embarrass yourself in your own 
ambiguous answer ! If you condemn us, why 
do you give orders against searching after us ? 
If you think it not well to search after us, 
why do you not acquit us ? Soldiers are set 
to patrol in every province for the appre- 
hending of robbers, and every private indi- 
vidual justifies taking up arms against traitors 
and enemies of the commonwealth, being ob- 
liged moreover to make enquiry after con- 
spirators ; but a Christian only is a criminal 
of that strange kind that no enquiry must be 
made to find him, and yet, when found, he 
may be brought to the tribunal ; as if this 
enquiry was designed for any other purpose 
but to bring offenders to justice. You con- 
demn him, therefore, when brought, whom 
the laws forbid to be searched after ; not that 
in your hearts you can think him guilty, but 
only to get into the good graces of the peo- 
ple, whose zeal has transported them to search 
him out against the intention of the edict. 
This also is very extraordinary in your pro- 
ceedings against us, that you rack others to 
confess, but torment Christians to deny; 



CHRISTIANITY. Ill 

whereas, were Christianity wicked, we no 
doubt should imitate the wrong-doers in the 
arts of concealment, and force you to apply 
your engines of confession. Nor can you 
conclude it needless to torture a Christian 
into a confession of particulars, because you 
resolve the very name must include all that 
is evil. Notwithstanding you presume upon 
our wickedness, merely from our owning the 
name, at the same time you use violence to 
make us retract that confession, that by 
withdrawing the bare name only, we might 
be acquitted of the crimes fathered upon it. 
But now, if your process against us and 
other criminals be notoriously different, it is 
a shrewd sign you believe us innocent ; and 
that this very belief of our innocence is the 
spring which sets you at work for our de- 
liverance by forcing us to deny our name ; 
which though in justice you know you can- 
not, yet for reasons of state you must con- 
demn. A man cries out upon the rack, — i I 
am a Christian.' You hear him proclaim to 
the world what really he is, and you would 
fain have him say what really he is not. 



112 EVIDENCES OF 

That even judges, who are commissioned to 
torture for the confession of truth, should 
abuse it upon Christians only for the extor- 
tion of a falsehood ! You demand what I am, 
and I say I am a Christian; why do you 
torture me to unsay it ? I confess, and you 
rack on ; if I confess not, what will you do ? 
If other malefactors deny, it is with difficulty 
you believe them; but if Christians deny, 
you acquit them at a word." A similar 
argument is employed in an interesting pas- 
sage in the Apology of Athenagoras, ad- 
dressed to the Roman emperors Marcus 
Antoninus and Commodus, and composed 
about a.d. 180, — " If any one can convict 
us of doing wrong, either little or great, we 
do not deprecate punishment, but we demand 
to receive that which is the most severe and 
unmerciful. But, if the accusation is against 
our name only (up to the present day at 
least, what they spread about us is the com- 
mon and indiscriminate rumour of mankind, 
and no Christian has been convicted of a 
crime), it already becomes your duty, most 
great and benevolent and learned emperors, 



CHRISTIANITY. 113 

to ward off injury from us by law; that, 
as all the world, both individuals and states, 
have shared in your benefits, we also may 
have cause of gratitude towards you, and 
praise your names for having been released 
from those who slander us. For it is not 
consistent with your justice, that other men, 
hearing a charge of their crimes, are exempt 
from punishment before they are convicted, 
but that in our case the name has greater 
weight than proofs in a court of justice, be- 
cause the judges do not enquire if the man 
tried has done any crime, but insult him 
about his name, as if that were a crime. 
Those who are judged before you, even if 
they are defending themselves from the 
greatest offences, are confident, knowing that 
you will enquire into their lives, and will not 
listen to names, if they are empty, nor to 
insinuations from the accusations if they 
should be false ; they receive the judgment 
that condemns them with the same justice as 
that which acquits them. We also, there- 
fore, demand the same right that is shown to 
all, not because we are called Christians, to 
I 



114 EVIDENCES OF 

be hated and punished, but to be judged of 
those things about which any one accuses us, 
and either to be let go, if we wipe off the ac- 
cusations, or that those who are found guilty 
should be punished ; not for the name, — for 
no Christian is a bad man, unless he has 
falsely assumed the appellation, — but for 
some crime." 

45. The prevalence of Christianity in 
Bithynia from fifty to seventy years after 
the crucifixion, as thus established by Pliny, 
is a fact of great importance in an argument 
resting solely on the testimony of inde- 
pendent writers. The inhabitants of that 
country must at the time have been in inter- 
course with individuals who had means of 
judging from the best authorities of the truth- 
ful or fallacious character of the mission of 
Jesus. Had it been an imposture, it seems 
incredible that, at so brief a period after the 
death of the founder of the religion, and the 
creed being established on numerous facts 
capable of being investigated, they should 
have adhered to the faith with the singular 
pertinacity described by Pliny as " a contu- 



CHRISTIANITY. 115 

macious and inflexible obstinacy." Porphyry, 
a violent opponent of Christianity, relates 
that a certain person, having applied to the 
oracle of Apollo for advice as to the course 
he should pursue to induce or compel his 
wife to relinquish the new religion, was dis- 
couraged from an attempt which the heathen 
priests knew by experience would fail of 
success. The answer of the oracle emphati- 
cally warned him, — " Sooner may you write, 
stamping letters on the water, or, filling 
light wings, fly as a bird through the air, 
than reclaim the spirit of your impious spouse. 
Leave her, therefore, in her error, to chant a 
hymn, in a faint and mournful voice, to the 
deceased God, who was publicly condemned 
to a cruel punishment by judges of singular 
wisdom." It is evident, observes Justin, 
that " no one can terrify or enslave those 
who have believed in Jesus ; for when con- 
demned to be beheaded, to be crucified, to 
be cast to wild beasts, into chains, or into the 
flames, or to be otherwise tortured, they 
never swerve from the profession of their 
faith." The stedfastness of the Christians to 



116 EVIDENCES OF 

their belief passed into a proverb. " Sooner 
might one unteach the disciples of Moses and 
Christ," observes the celebrated physician 
Galen, a.d. 180. " There are those," says 
Tertullian, in his treatise De Spectaculis, 
" who think the Christians, a people ever 
ready for death, are trained up to this ob- 
stinacy by the renouncement of pleasures, 
so that they may the more easily despise life, 
having, as it were, cut its bonds asunder; 
and may not pine after that which they have 
already rendered superfluous to themselves ; 
that so this rule may be thought to be laid 
down rather by man's wisdom and provision, 
than by the law of God." The same writer 
again alludes to this quality of the early 
Christians in a noble passage at the conclu- 
sion of his Apology. — " That which you 
reproach in us as obstinacy has been the 
most instructing mistress in proselyting the 
world ; for who has not been struck at the 
sight of that you call obstinacy, and thence 
excited to look into the reality and reason of 
it? And whoever examined well into our 
religion, but came over to it ; and whoever 



CHRISTIANITY. 117 

was converted but was ready to suffer for it, 
to purchase the favour of God, and obtain 
the pardon of all his sins, though at the 
price of his blood, martyrdom being sure of 
mercy ? For this reason it is we thank you 
for condemning us, because there is such a 
blessed emulation and discord between the 
divine and human judgment, that, when you 
condemn us upon earth, God absolves us in 
heaven." 

46. The rescript of Trajan, not less mis- 
chievous because it recommended in one re- 
spect a moderate course, converted the tacit 
oppression of the Christians under the legal 
forms applicable to those who contemned the 
religion of the state, to a direct condemnation 
of them by express decree. Under the 
sanction of this high authority, the rancour of 
the populace increased, and in the next reign, 
that of Hadrian, a.d. 117 to A.D. 138, they 
began to demand the sacrifice of the Christians 
at the pagan festivals. Their hostility to them 
had reached to such a pitch of intensity, that 
it seems in some cases persons who were not 
Christians were condemned on the mere 



118 EVIDENCES OF 

suspicion of their having accepted the tenets 
of the new creed. In this state of affairs, 
Serenius Granianus, proconsul of Asia Mi- 
nor, wrote to the emperor suggesting the 
unfairness of the Christians being indiscri- 
minately executed, without trial, to gratify 
the clamour of the people. The rescript of Ha- 
drian, addressed to his successor, is preserved 
by Eusebius, and is of unquestionable authen- 
ticity, being expressly referred to, not only 
by Melito,in the Apology addressed to Marcus 
Antoninus, a.d. 177, but by Justin Martyr 
and Sulpicius Severus. It is in the following 
terms, — " Hadrian to Minucius Fundanus. 
I have received a letter written to me by the 
illustrious Serenius Granianus, whom you 
have succeeded. It seems then to me that 
this is an affair which ought not to be passed 
over without being examined into ; if it were 
only to prevent disturbance being given to 
the people, and that room may not be left for 
informers to practise their wicked arts. If, 
therefore, the people of the province will 
appear publicly, and in a legal way charge the 
Christians that they may answer for them- 



CHRISTIANITY. 119 

selves in court, let them take that course, and 
not proceed by importunate demands and loud 
clamours only. For it is much the best me- 
thod, if any bring accusations, that you should 
take cognizance of them. If then any one 
shall accuse and make out anything contrary 
to the laws, do you determine according to 
the nature of the crime ; but, by Hercules, if 
the charge be only a calumny (compare 
Matthew, v. 11), do you take care to punish 
the author of it with the severity it deserves." 
Similar rescripts (Euseb. Hist Eccles. iv. 
26) were sent by the emperor to the rulers of 
other provinces; but notwithstanding the 
apparent fairness of these orders, it appears 
from the Samaritan Chronicle that, in a.d. 
132, large numbers of Christians were exe- 
cuted in Egypt by the order of Hadrian. 
The persecutions of the Christians continued, 
with various degrees of intensity, during the 
greater part of this century. 

47. The fortitude displayed by the early 
Christians under their torments elicited the 
astonishment even of their enemies. It per- 
vaded all the true members of the new faith. 



120 EVIDENCES OF 

Tender children and helpless women surren- 
dered themselves to martyrdom with a courage 
and a patience under suffering that exceeded 
the brightest examples of the ancient stoics, 
and that could only have been obtained by the 
exercise of a sincere faith. " Is it possible," 
asks the philosopher Epictetus, a.d. 120, 
" that a man may arrive at this temper, and 
become indifferent to these things, from mad- 
ness or from habit, as the Galilseans?" There 
is a singular passage in the Meditations of the 
emperor Marcus Antoninus, composed before 
the year 175, expressly condemning this 
readiness of the Christians to die rather than 
consent to the relinquishment of their creed, 
— " What a soul is that which is prepared, 
even now presently if needful, to be separated 
from the body, whether it be to be extin- 
guished, or to be dispersed, or to subsist still ; 
but this readiness must proceed from a well 
weighed judgment, not from mere obstinacy, 
like the Christians ; and it should be done 
considerately, and with gravity, without tra- 
gical exclamations, and so as to persuade 
another." Long before this was written, Pliny 



CHRISTIANITY. 121 

had asserted that no persuasion or force could 
compel real Christians to acknowledge their 
tenets were erroneous. Some of the torments 
to which they were subjected were almost 
incredible. Those who stood around them, 
observe the members of the church at Smyrna, 
writing to others at Philadelphia, " were 
astonished, seeing them scourged till their 
veins and arteries were laid bare, and even their 
entrails became visible ; after which they were 
laid upon the shells of sea-fish, and upon sharp 
spikes, fixed in the ground, with many other 
kinds of torture ; in the end they were cast 
to wild beasts to be devoured by them. One 
Germanicus, assisted by the divine grace, over- 
came the fear of death implanted in the nature 
of men ; for when the proconsul advised him 
to think of his youth, and to spare himself, 
he was not at all moved thereby, but enticed 
and stimulated the wild beasts to approach 
him, that he might be the sooner dismissed 
from this evil world." All writers, heathen 
as well as Christian, agree in asserting that 
the sincere followers of the new religion 
endured any degree of suffering, and laid down 



122 EVIDENVES OF 

their lives, rather than even nominally deny 
their Saviour before the world. 

48. The Christians, when detected, some- 
times escaped with the infliction of imprison- 
ment, which was, however, often accompanied 
with various degrees of severity. This mo- 
dification of the punishment originally inflicted 
was more common in the latter part of the 
second century, than at previous times. In 
the narrative of the death of Peregrinus, 
written by an elegant Greek author, Lucian 
of Samosata, is preserved an interesting ac- 
count of the Christians of that period, and of 
the efforts they made to relieve the necessities 
of any members of the body who were im- 
prisoned on account of the faith, — -" at this 
time it was that Peregrinus learnt the won- 
derful philosophy of the Christians, having 
kept company with their priests and scribes 
in Palestine. They still worship that great 
man who was crucified in that country, be- 
cause he introduced this new worship into life. 
For this, then, he was seized and thrown into 
prison. When he was put in prison, the 
Christians, looking upon it as a misfortune, 



CHRISTIANITY. 123 

moved everything in their endeavours to 
rescue him ; but when this was impossible, 
every other kind of attention was- shown to 
him, not leisurely, but with all their zeal. 
At early dawn, might be seen waiting about 
the prison, old women, certain widows, and 
orphan children ; but those of them who were 
in authority, also, corrupting the guards, slept 
in the prison with him. Then elegant suppers 
were carried in for him, and they held there 
their sacred conversations, and the good Pe- 
regrinus, as he was called, was named by them 
a new Socrates. Moreover, there came to 
him persons from some of the cities of Asia, 
sent by the Christians to assist him out of 
their common stock, to join in advising him, 
and to comfort the man. It is incredible 
what expedition they use when any of their 
friends are known to be in trouble. In a 
word, they spare nothing upon such an occa- 
sion ; — for these miserable men have no doubt 
they shall be immortal and live for ever; 
therefore they condemn death, and many 
surrender themselves to sufferings. Moreover, 
their first lawgiver has taught them that they 



124 EVIDENCES OF 

are all brethren, when once they have turned 
and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and 
worship this Master of theirs who was cruci- 
fied, and engage to live according to his laws. 
They have also a sovereign contempt for all 
the things of this world, and look upon them 
as common." This valuable notice of the 
Christians, written by Lucian of Samosata, a 
heathen author of the second century, refers 
to a period somewhere about a. d. 160. Ano- 
ther notice of the imprisonment of those 
detected of belonging to the new sect occurs 
in a curious anecdote related by Justin, — " a 
woman, being converted to Christianity, was 
afraid to associate with a reprobate husband, 
lest she should partake of his sins. Her 
husband, not being able to accuse her, vented 
his rage on one Ptolemasus, a teacher of 
Christianity, who had converted her. The 
centurion threw Ptolemseus into prison, and 
was afterwards persuaded to bring him forth, 
and to put the usual question to him, whether 
he were a Christian or not? Then, upon 
his true and faithful confession that he was 
one, the centurion caused him to be fettered, 



CHRISTIANITY. 125 

and lie was punished in prison for a long 
time." That Christianity would necessitate 
in some cases family divisions was foretold 
(Matthew, x. 36) by Jesus himself. 

49. Persecution had from the first assisted 
rather than retarded the dissemination of the 
faith. According to the irrefragable testi- 
mony of the historian Tacitus, the new reli- 
gion had made extraordinary progress within 
thirty years after the crucifixion. It had 
only been checked for a short time in its 
progress by that event, and then spread not 
only over Judea, but to the seat of the 
Roman government, so that in A. D. 64, the 
date of the great fire at Borne, a " vast 
multitude" had been discovered in that city. 
The evidence of Pliny, which is also un- 
assailable by adverse criticism, establishes 
that the Christian faith was undergoing per- 
secution more than twenty years before the 
period at which he wrote his celebrated letter 
to Trajan, so that about a.d. 85, or in little 
more than twenty years after the cruelties 
inflicted on the Christians at Rome, the 
process of repression is discovered in opera- 



126 EVIDENCES OF 

tion in a remote part of the empire ; and 
notwithstanding a few interested later testi- 
monies to the contrary, it is doubtful if the 
system ceased entirely at any period in the 
latter half of the first century, excepting 
possibly during the short reign of Nerva. 
At some period before a.d. 107, according 
to Pliny, the progress of the new faith had 
been so successful, the temples of the gods 
" were once almost deserted," and the sacred 
solemnities, at the date of his letter, were 
merely being revived " after a long inter- 
mission." Great numbers, he says with 
symptoms of alarm, " must be involved in 
the danger of these prosecutions, which have 
already extended, and are still likely to ex- 
tend, to persons of all ranks and ages, and 
even of both sexes." It thus appears that 
persons of " all ranks" were now accepting 
the tenets of Christianity, which were no 
longer chiefly restricted, as in the earlier 
dissemination of the religion, to individuals 
of lowly temporal condition. The notices of 
its advancement after this period are too 
numerous to be here particularised. They 



CHRISTIANITY. 127 

prove that the faith was spreading year after 
year, gathering strength and vitality in its 
progress. It was established as early as the 
middle of the second century at Edessa, 
where the prince, Abgar Bar Manu, held 
the Christian Bardesanes in high respect. In 
Africa it had made such progress that Ter- 
tullian remarks, if the Christians were extir- 
pated, they would decimate Carthage. In 
another place, he observes, — " we are but of 
yesterday, and by to-day are grown up, and 
overspread your empire; your cities, your 
islands, and your very camps, all swarm with 
Christians ; your temples indeed we leave to 
yourselves, and they are the only places you 
can name without Christians." To a similar 
effect is the following observation by Justin 
Martyr, who is speaking perhaps somewhat 
hyperbolically, but no doubt with a conviction 
of the truth of the main fact of the wide recep- 
tion of the religion, — " there is not so much as 
one nation of men, whether Greeks or Bar- 
barians, or by what other names soever they 
are called, whether Scythians or Arabians, 
amongst whom prayers and thanksgivings are 



128 EVIDENCES OF 

not offered up to the Father and Creator of 
all things through the name of Jesus who 
was crucified/' Try ph. Dial. 117. There 
were Christian churches at Lyons and 
Vienne soon after a.d. 150, and before the 
conclusion of the same century, according to 
several early writers, the faith had penetrated 
to some of the native tribes of the British 
Islands, at so early a period was the esta- 
blishment, in some form, of that missionary 
system which now, by the aid of its marvel- 
lous ramifications, permeates nearly every 
country on the face of the globe. 

50. In speaking of the efforts made by the 
heathens to suppress the advance of Chris- 
tianity, attention has only hitherto been 
drawn to the agencies of the law and the 
sword. Some consideration may now be 
given to the equally important action of the 
pen, the aid of which was not, however, 
invoked against the new religion until the 
second century. In a discussion respecting 
the truth of any particular history, one of the 
best tests is to be sought for in the insuf- 
ficiency of the arguments of those who con- 



CHRISTIANITY. 129 

tend for the falsity of the narrative. It will 
then obviously be a matter of interest and 
importance to ascertain what kind of reason- 
ing was employed by the professed opponents 
of Christianity. The Epicurean philosopher, 
Celsus, is one of the most ancient writers of 
this class, and as he may fairly be considered 
the ablest of the early authors who publicly 
attacked the new religion, the character of 
the testimony he adduces will be examined 
with more than ordinary curiosity, if not at 
first by some with anxiety. Any feeling of 
apprehension that he possessed evidence of 
value beyond the refutation of Christians 
would, however, be dissipated on a perusal 
of the remaining fragments of his treatise. 
At the time at which Celsus wrote, soon 
after the middle of the second century, it 
was not too late to have appealed to secondary 
evidence, to some of those who had been ac- 
quainted with the witnesses of the miracles 
of Christ ; or, at all events, he could have 
searched the records of the city of Rome, 
sought for the accounts of his own country- 
men, and referred to the reports sent to the 
K 



130 EVIDENCES OF 

seat of government from the various pro- 
curators, in support of his statements against 
the veracity of the evangelists. But far from 
attempting to deny that the Saviour worked 
extraordinary and important miracles, he 
tacitly admits their occurrence, but attributes 
them to the employment of magical or jug- 
gling arts, which he asserts were learnt by 
him during his abode in Egypt. " Jesus," 
observes Celsus, " having been privately edu- 
cated, was compelled to work in Egypt, and 
having learnt those arts for which that nation 
is so famous, returned into his own country, 
and gave out that he was God." He asks if 
a person who performed such miracles is not 
rather " a wretch, well-versed, it seems, in a 
diabolical art." The fact of chief import- 
ance is, however, that Celsus had no good 
evidence to produce in opposition to the 
various miracles performed by Christ during 
his life-time ; and it must be recollected that 
nothing could have been so difficult to esta- 
blish, or so easy to confute, as most of the 
works of supernatural power ascribed to the 
Saviour. Celsus, in fact, restricts himself 



CHRISTIANITY. 131 

to the denial of the truth of those events 
which were, even in his time, beyond the 
possibility of demonstration, without attempt- 
ing to prove the falsity of those still within 
the range of critical enquiry. It would be 
difficult to name a fact in defence of the 
Christian religion more suggestive than this. 
51. Independently of the value of the 
treatise of Celsus in showing that, in his time, 
the accounts in our present gospels were 
those received by the Christians, there are 
numerous incidental confirmations of the 
evangelical narrative. Thus he admits that 
the Saviour, " appearing in the world, and 
introducing his doctrines but a few years 
ago, was taken by the Christians for the Son 
of God, in a strict and proper sense." He 
reproaches Christ as having been " born at an 
obscure village," and having " a mother who 
got her livelihood by going out to service, 
her husband being a carpenter by trade." 
Celsus acknowledges that the Saviour was 
baptized by John the Baptist ; that he wan- 
dered about with his disciples without means 
of subsistence, and without a settled habita- 



132 EVIDENCES OF 

tion ; that he foretold his own death and re- 
surrection; that he was betrayed by one of 
his own followers ; and that he was executed 
on the cross, which, he adds, (S was certainly 
the most shameful, as well as painful, death 
he could possibly have suffered." In another 
place he says, speaking in the character of a 
Jew addressing the Christians, — " it was 
but the other day we severely punished the 
person who led you aside, like a company of 
silly sheep, and, by consequence, it was very 
lately, and on a sudden, you renounced the 
law of your fathers." Celsus questions the 
truth of the resurrection of Jesus, but he 
grounds his objection on the insufficient 
number of witnesses, observing that Chris- 
tians only were present on the occasion. He 
does not attempt to deny that the fact of the 
resurrection was publicly stated on the au- 
thority of those witnesses ; but, on the con- 
trary, he expressly objects that there were so 
many present at the crucifixion of the Saviour, 
and so few at the time that he rose from the 
dead. It is unnecessary to enlarge on the 
importance of a concession of this kind, 
yielded by a bitter philosophical opponeut. 



CHRISTIANITY. 133 

52. The preternatural humility of Jesus 
was, as might have been expected, altogether 
beyond the appreciation of the heathen philo- 
sopher. Celsus speaks, in contempt, of " the 
Sun of Righteousness, who condescends to 
shine promiscuously on the greatest and on 
the meanest, and to enlighten, and warm with 
his refreshing rays, the most eminent saint 
and the vilest sinner." Thus the liberal 
universality of the Christian religion, that 
which recommends it as the revelation of an 
omnipresent God, becomes, in the mind of 
the Epicurean, an argument against its di- 
vine origin. In another chapter, he writes 
in these contemptuous terms of the Virgin 
Mary, — " one who had neither a great for- 
tune, nor noble birth, to recommend her; 
but led so obscure a life, she was scarce 
known by those who were her nearest neigh- 
bours ; " and again, the Jew of Celsus, 
addressing the Saviour, says, — " you were 
compelled to wander about like a slave and a 
vagabond, and to sneak like a malefactor, not 
having a place whereon you may comfortably 
rest your head." It was naturally a subject 



134 EVIDENCES OF 

for wonder to a philosophical mind, that the 
Messiah should appear in the world as one of 
the poorest and least influential of mankind. 
53. A similar kind of feeling and train of 
thought induces Celsus to question the divine 
nature of the Saviour, on the specious ground 
that he did not on all occasions exercise the 
power with which such a being must have 
been invested, that circumstances and trials 
were allowed that could easily have been 
prevented; and that he was endowed with 
attributes inconsistent with the majesty of 
divine power. The Jew introduced by Celsus 
asks, — " what necessity was there, when you 
were an infant, you should be carried into 
Egypt to avoid being killed; for could not 
God, who, as we are told, did employ his 
angels for your direction and assistance, pre- 
serve his Son as easily in Judea as in Egypt?" 
Again, observes Celsus, " a God would never 
have a human body, that is so contemptible as 
being liable to so many and so considerable 
imperfections ; a God had no need of such a 
voice, nor such methods of persuasion." He 
follows with other arguments conceived in a 



CHRISTIANITY. 135 

similar spirit, — " if your Saviour suffered 
freely, in obedience to his Heavenly Father, 
it is plain, since you say that he was God, 
and his sufferings were entirely voluntary, 
you must acknowledge it was impossible, in 
the midst of his supposed agonies, that he 
should have had so quick a sense of pain. 
Why did he then make such horrible com- 
plaints, and so earnestly desire his sufferings 
might be prevented ?— As the sun, enlighten- 
ing everything by its piercing rays, does 
immediately discover itself to us by the 
piercing light which it transmits over the 
whole sphere ; so your Saviour, had he been 
God, or the Son of God, would have re- 
sembled that glorious luminary. — What did 
Jesus do that was truly great, and worthy of 
a God ? Did he baffle his enemies, and dis- 
concert their most politic measures ? Had he 
a mind to have given a proof of his pretended 
divinity, one would think he should have 
vanished the very moment he was nailed to 
the cross." In all this, there is merely the 
human judgment of what revelation ought to 
be, set up in opposition to that which is be- 



136 EVIDENCES OF 

lieved by Christians to be the design of God. 
There is not, in any part of the fragments of 
Celsus, any valid evidence against the truth 
of Christianity, or of the Christian revela- 
tion. 

54. The insinuation of Celsus that the 
miracles of the Saviour were effected by the 
agency of magic, or were deceptions executed 
in the same manner as were those performed 
by the ancient professors of that art, is 
alluded to by several other writers. Justin 
Martyr refers to this notion in an interesting 
passage in which he observes, — " this Christ, 
the fountain of living water, flowed out from 
God in the wilderness that was destitute of 
the knowledge of God, namely, in the land 
of the Gentiles ; who also appeared amongst 
your countrymen, and healed those who from 
their birth, and according to the flesh, were 
blind, and deaf, and lame ; causing, even by 
his word, the one to leap, the other to hear, 
and the other to see. Moreover he also 
raised the dead, and restored them to life 
again, and by his mighty works prevailed 
upon the men of those times to own and 



CHRISTIANITY. 137 

acknowledge him. But some that saw him 
do those mighty works, said that he practised 
the magic art, and did not scruple to affirm 
that he was an impostor and a deceiver of 
the people," Dial. Try ph. 69. In another 
work, the Apology, he excuses himself from 
insisting as much as he would otherwise have 
done upon the miracles of Christ, because 
the adversaries of the religion were wont to 
attribute them to magic, — e( lest any of our 
opponents should say, what hinders, but that 
he who is called Christ, being a man sprung 
from men, performed the miracles, which we 
attribute to him, by magical art." So also 
Tertullian, to the same effect, — " that per- 
son, whom the Jews had vainly imagined, 
from the meanness of his appearance, to be a 
mere man, they afterwards, in consequence 
of the power he exerted, considered as a 
magician." Porphyry was one of those who 
imputed the miracles of Christ to the em- 
ployment of magic; and, in the Jewish 
Talmuds, it is stated that, after his return 
from Egypt, he engaged himself in magical 
practices, and was excommunicated. Ac- 



138 EVIDENCES OF 

cording to the same authority, there was a 
tradition that they executed Jesus on the 
day of the preparation of the Passover, a 
crier having gone before him forty days, 
making proclamation in these words, — " he 
was led forth to be stoned, because he 
practised magical arts, and seduced and led 
away the Israelites." In a stupid Hebrew 
romance, of uncertain antiquity, called Tolle- 
doth Jeshu, the History of Jesus, the Saviour 
is said to have obtained his power of working 
miracles by having succeeded in obtaining 
at the temple the right pronunciation of the 
ineffable name of God, in spite of the efforts 
of two brazen lions who had successfully 
counteracted all previous attempts of a simi- 
lar nature. These notices are merely valuable 
as showing the importance attached by the 
early adversaries of Christianity to the belief 
of the followers of the new religion in the 
miracles of the Saviour, and the necessity 
that existed of throwing discredit upon their 
probability. 

55. There is no ancient writer against 
Christianity whose work is of the same im- 



CHRISTIANITY. 139 

portance as is that of Celsus, or, in fact, of 
great value in the question respecting the 
evidences of the truth of the religion. Celsus 
did all that it was in the power of an acute 
philosopher to accomplish towards the demo- 
lition of the foundations of the Christian faith, 
and it is seen how insignificant is his eiFort, 
how deficient in corroborative testimony, 
how little more there is in his arguments 
beyond bare denial, ridicule, and unsupported 
slander, the weakest resources to which an 
adversary of acknowledged position and abi- 
lity could have had recourse. Not only is 
Celsus the most ancient opponent of Chris- 
tianity, any large portions of whose works 
remain, but there is no good evidence that 
there was any one before his time who made 
a similar attempt; though contemporary 
with him, and writing, as far as can be 
ascertained, at nearly the same time, were 
the Cynic philosopher Crescens, and the 
rhetorician Cornelius Fronto, who are only 
known as sceptical writers by a few de- 
tached passages. In the latter part of the 
same century, and in the following one, 



140 EVIDENCES OF 

several authors openly attacked the religion, 
but at a period when all direct and little 
secondary oral evidence of importance could 
have been available ; and it is not found that 
any of them were enabled to refer to authentic 
records in support of the opinions they were 
desirous of establishing. Many of their ob- 
jections are of a frivolous character, the 
production of which is inconsistent with the 
possession of tangible arguments. Thus 
Porphyry accuses some of the apostles of 
folly for instantaneously complying with the 
command of the Saviour to forsake all and 
follow him ; he upbraids Jesus for fickleness, 
because he went to Jerusalem at the feast of 
Tabernacles after expressing another inten- 
tion; and he objects that there was an attempt 
at imposition by the evangelists, when the 
lake of Grennesareth is spoken of by them as 
being a sea. He did not deny all the Chris- 
tian miracles, but attributed some of them 
to the exercise of demoniacal influence ; and 
he speaks of Jesus as " a most wise and 
pious man, approved by the gods, and taken 
up into heaven for his distinguished virtues." 



CHRISTIANITY. 141 

In indignation at the spread of the religion, 
he observes, — " people wonder that this dis- 
temper has oppressed the city so many years, 
.ZEsculapius and the other gods no longer 
conversing with men ; for since Jesus has 
been honoured, none have received any benefit 
from the gods." Another opponent, named 
Hierocles, wrote two books against the Chris- 
tians, in which he does not attempt to dis- 
prove the miracles of Jesus, but endeavours 
to show that similar works were performed 
by one Apollonius. Christ, he observes, 
" must be reckoned a magician, because he 
did many wonderful things ; but Apollonius 
is more able, for when Domitian would have 
put him to death, he escaped 3 whereas Christ 
was apprehended and crucified." Hierocles 
speaks contemptuously of the apostles as 
" ignorant and illiterate people, some of whom 
got their livelihood by fishing;" so difficult 
was it for the pride of the human mind to 
reconcile itself to a revelation promulgated to 
the world in so humble a guise. A similar 
objection is made by the emperor Julian, who 
is also dissatisfied with the simple character 



142 EVIDENCES OF 

of the Christian miracles, — " Jesus did no- 
thing in his life-time worthy of remembrance, 
unless any one thinks it a mighty matter to 
heal lame and blind people, and exorcise de- 
moniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and 
Bethany." In estimating the value of the 
works of the writers after the time of Celsus, 
and how far they unconsciously add to the 
credibility of the gospel history by the cir- 
cumstances adduced in the vain endeavour to 
confute its truth, it should be observed that 
we labour under the disadvantage of being 
enabled to refer only to occasional passages 
extracted by other authors, the books them- 
selves being lost; but this is the less to be 
regretted in respect to the present object, it 
being obvious any writings composed after the 
second century are of small importance in 
regard to most questions relating to events 
occurring in the life -time of the Saviour. 

56. It will be observed that Celsus, repre- 
senting the philosophical spirit of his time, 
deals chiefly with what may be termed the 
counter-internal evidences of Christianity ; 
and that, like those who lead the popular 



CHRISTIANITY. 143 

scepticism of the present day, takes exception, 
not to defects in the historical evidence, but 
rather to the doctrines of the religion, which 
are declared to be unworthy our intellectual 
assent, and repugnant to the cultivated mind. 
Metaphysical objections of this kind can never 
be completely answered, for there being a 
natural tendency in every mind to reduce the 
sympathies of God to its own level, it is a 
hopeless task to attempt to show that the 
revealed plans of divine administration are in 
unison with those that would suggest them- 
selves naturally to the infinite varieties of the 
human mind, as what, in their estimation, the 
designs of the Creator ought to be. But 
there is one consideration, which appears to 
neutralize in a great measure all arguments 
founded on the circumstance of the tenets of a 
religion not being in accordance with the predi- 
lections of the human intellect, it being impos- 
sible to conceive that any religious doctrines, 
wholly acceptable to the natural judgment 
of man, could not also be of human invention. 
Great suspicion would thus be attached to 
any creed of a purely moral and philosophical 



144 EVIDENCES OF 

character, — to any that would fully meet the 
desires of those who consider that the doc- 
trines of a true religion should be reconcileable 
to unassisted reason ; and one evidence of the 
truth of Christianity is the very high impro- 
bability that its peculiar tenets should have 
been inventions, and that the promulgators of 
the new creed should have voluntarily added 
to the great difficulties by which they were 
otherwise surrounded by attaching to it novel 
doctrines, so singular in their character, and 
so little adapted to obtain the favourable 
acceptation of mankind. It is not of course 
pretended that Christianity is true, merely 
because its tenets are mysterious, and accepted 
with difficulty by the human intellect ; but it 
is insisted that it is unlikely a communication 
from the Infinite to the Finite should not be 
accompanied with such difficulties and mys- 
teries, and that the wisest and most philo- 
sophical method is first to be satisfied of the 
truth of a revelation from historical evidence, 
allowing the integrity of the doctrines them- 
selves to rest solely on that truth, uninfluenced 
by any antecedent conjectures of our own of 



CHRISTIANITY. 145 

what a revelation might or ought to con- 
sist. 

57. The difficulties connected with the re- 
ception of the historical truth of Christianity, 
suggested by modern sceptics, are more tan- 
gible, and can be practically answered. Thus, 
the chief objection urged by Gibbon is the 
absence of notice of the miracles of Christ in 
the writings of the very few classical authors 
contemporary with those events. The subject 
has already been alluded to, but it deserves 
perhaps to be treated at somewhat greater 
length. Setting aside the not improbable 
assumption that mention of them was made 
in works of the period not now extant, a little 
consideration will show that there are causes 
satisfactorily accounting for the silence of a 
few heathen writers. There is no reason for 
supposing any of them to have been inti- 
mately acquainted with the local occurrences 
happening in Judea in the life-time of the 
Saviour, and the only means they could have 
possessed of learning of the miracles were 
rumours, disregarded perhaps in some cases 
as improbable, and those reports addressed to 

L 



14*5 EVIDENCES OF 

the emperor by a procurator of a remote 
province, which came to be valuable evidence 
at a later date, but which at the time either 
failed to attract the serious notice they de- 
served amidst the multiplicity of the incidents 
of so vast an empire, or perhaps were studi- 
ously concealed for a time as involving cir- 
cumstances dangerous to the maintenance of 
the existing national religion. The miracles 
of Christ were not, moreover, generally of a 
character so imposing as to attract the atten- 
tion of the whole world. The various cures 
and other evidences of divine power were 
performed in the most unpretending manner 
in a distant country, Christ coming as it were 
in disguise to plant the seeds of faith in a 
number of witnesses only sufficient to secure 
their propagation. His ministry lasted but a 
short time, during which no classical writer 
had been in Judea, and the probability is that 
no accounts of him, excepting perhaps a few 
desultory notices in the correspondence of 
individuals, were sent to Rome previously to 
his condemnation by Pontius Pilate. The 
Romans, even at a later date, appear to have 



CHRISTIANITY. 147 

been but very slightly acquainted with the 
tenets of the religion. The cruel persecution 
of the Christians in the reign of Nero, as 
recorded by Tacitus and Suetonius, shows 
how their character was misunderstood, any 
disposition to treat it fairly being overruled 
by the fear of the danger to which the ancient 
faith of Rome was subjected by the dissemi- 
nation of the new creed. The hatred of the 
Romans to the latter, and a dread of the 
consequences resulting from its rapid advance, 
must have been nearly simultaneous with the 
arrival of the news of the wonders performed 
by Christ, a consideration alone sufficient to 
account for the silence or enmity of the clas- 
sical authors. Tacitus in all probability knew 
something of the causes alleged for the foun- 
dation of the religion, yet he contents himself 
with indulging in the severest abuse of the 
converts, assuming them guilty of crimes in- 
consistent with the endurance of a martyrdom 
for the sake of the truth of a spiritual faith. 
Their real crime no doubt consisted in their 
defiance of polytheism, the denial of which 
was, in the opinion of many, synonymous with 



148 EVIDENCES OF 

" hatred to mankind," the accusation brought 
against them by the historian. Within thirty 
years after the crucifixion, the agents of 
Christianity were undermining the founda- 
tions of the national religion of the Roman 
empire, exposing themselves to bitter perse- 
cution, and their faith to violent hatred. The 
truth of their creed rested on miracles and 
occurrences that had taken place in a distant 
province, and it was no less the interest than 
agreeable to the prejudices of every citizen 
who did not embrace the new faith, to conceal 
or deny the truth of any information respect- 
ing;' them that came to his knowledge. The 
most that can be expected, under such cir- 
cumstances, is that the classical writers should, 
when incidentally mentioning the Christians, 
speak of them with dislike, bear testimony 
to the spread of the religion, and refrain from 
adducing supposititious evidence against the 
truth of events they would have been un- 
willing to admit, — even if it were possible 
any of them could have been eye-witnesses of 
the performance of a single miracle, or ac- 
quainted with those who could have borne 



CHRISTIANITY. 149 

personal testimony to the fact. The incidental 
notices of Christianity in the works of Tacitus, 
Pliny, and others, attest, as far as they go, to 
the truth of the religion, without containing 
a single assertion bearing on the contrary side. 
It must always be remembered that it is 
impossible to expect strong confirmatory evi- 
dence to be recorded by unbelievers, — by 
those who were specially interested in dis- 
torting or concealing it. Independent testi- 
mony in favour of the truth of the evangelical 
narrative must obviously stop before it reaches 
that point at which assent enforces belief. 
Most of those who knew of their own know- 
ledge that the truth of the religion rested on 
undeniable facts became believers, and their 
evidence is disregarded or impaired from the 
very circumstance of their being Christians. 
If, therefore, we restrict ourselves to the 
consideration of the writings of those who, 
to an imperfect knowledge of the subject, 
added a strong prejudice against the religion, 
it is unreasonable to expect more than what 
is already before us ; or even, indeed, to have 
been surprised had there been far less ex- 



150 EVIDENCES OF 

trinsic corroborative evidence. The truth of 
this reflection will be more readily appreciated, 
if it be remembered how few and unimportant 
are the references to circumstances of general 
history to be traced in the numerous works of 
the early Christians. Both classes of authors 
were writing with different objects, and na- 
turally only confirm each other by incidental 
allusions. 

58. The early Christians not only defiantly 
neglected the polytheistic worship, but in- 
curred the anger of its professors by an open 
denouncement of its falsity. There can be no 
doubt that the Romans very soon began to 
consider the new faith to be of an exceedingly 
dangerous tendency. Those who adopted with 
sincerity the tenets of Christianity, regarded 
the heathen gods in the light of evil demons, 
carrying their dislike of everything connected 
with these objects of worship to such an 
excess as to refuse to join in customs involving 
in the slightest degree the acknowledgment 
of paganism, even in cases where they were 
in themselves harmless. The worship of the 
gods pervaded, in various trifling observances, 



CHRISTIANITY. 151 

so much of the ordinary everyday-life of the 
Romans, the Christians were compelled, by 
reason of their determination not to recognise 
it, to isolate themselves from the great body 
of the people. " We cannot vouchsafe," says 
Justin Martyr, e< to worship with numerous 
victims, and garlands of flowers, the work of 
men's hands, for we know them to be senseless 
inanimate idols, and in nothing resembling 
the form of God. This we look upon not 
only as the highest pitch of human folly, but 
as the most injurious affront to the true God, 
who is a God of glory and form ineffable, thus 
to transfer his incommunicable name to such 
corruptible and helpless things as wood and 
stone. We who formerly adored any of those 
who pass among you for gods, now through 
Jesus Christ have them all in the greatest 
contempt, though at the utmost peril of our 
lives." These opinions are doubtless an exact 
reflection of those entertained by the earliest 
followers of the new religion, and it may 
easily be imagined that the Christians, holding 
sentiments of this kind, were regarded with 
fear by the government as a body of men, who 



152 EVIDENCES OF 

would subvert, if they could, the existing 
order of affairs ; and with hatred by the people, 
as innovators despising the gods they wor- 
shipped, and openly rejecting with contempt 
their religious associations. With superstitious 
fanaticism, on the occasion of any public 
calamity, the populace thought that the gods 
were exhibiting a supernatural testimony of 
their anger against the new sect, and were 
calling on their followers to exterminate the 
impious body. " Faction," observes Ter- 
tullian, " is a name belonging only to those 
who conspire in the hatred of the good and 
virtuous, who join together their cry against 
the blood of the innocent, sheltering their 
malice under the vain pretence that they are 
of opinion the Christians are the occasions of 
all the mischief in the world. If the Tiber 
overflows, or the Nile does not; if rain is 
withheld, or the earth quakes ; if famine or 
pestilence stride through the country, the cry 
is, — Away with these Christians to the lion!" 
According to Augustine, it had become in his 
time a proverb, — " if there is no rain, lay 
the blame on the Christians." Bearing in 



CHRISTIANITY. 153 

mind the strong feeling of the Roman people 
against the new religion, and the anxiety felt 
on all sides to stifle it in its birth, it surely 
cannot be a matter of surprise that the heathen 
writers of the time should refrain from re- 
cording any circumstances within their know- 
ledge likely either to offend the prejudices of 
their readers, or to assist in the slightest 
degree in establishing the truth of a faith so 
opposed to what they believed to be their 
dearest interests. 

59. One of the most plausible objections 
to the historical truth of the gospel narrative 
is the silence of Josephus, and contemporary 
heathen writers, respecting the massacre of 
the infants at Bethlehem. This " obscure 
village," as it is described by the Epicurean 
philosopher Celsus (see p. 131), was a small 
place, unimportant except as the birth-place 
of the Saviour, and the number of children 
cruelly executed in and around Bethlehem 
must have been inconsiderable when viewed 
in comparison with the results of many other 
persecutions of the age and of Herod. The 
silence of the very few contemporary Roman 



154 EVIDENCES OF 

authors respecting the event is therefore not 
to be wondered at. Josephus might have 
been expected to have mentioned it, but he 
omits to record many other circumstances of 
equal or greater moment with which he must 
have been acquainted. Thus, for example, 
although writing specially the history of the 
Jews, he takes no notice of their banishment 
by Claudius, a fact recorded in the Acts of 
the Apostles, and confirmed by the indepen- 
dent testimony of Suetonius. It remains, 
then, to ascertain if the narrative of the mas- 
sacre is credible in itself, and consistent with 
the known character of Herocl, enquiries 
satisfactorily answered by a reference to Jo- 
sephus. To pass over many deeds of cruelty 
perpetrated by this ruler, the following account 
of one of the last acts of his life (as quoted in 
Lardner, i. 331), will be sufficient for the 
purpose. In his last sickness, a little before 
he died, he sent orders throughout Judea, 
requiring the presence of all the chief men of 
the nation at Jericho. His orders were 
obeyed, for they were enforced with no less 
penalty than that of death. When these men 



CHRISTIANITY. 155 

were come to Jericho, he had them all shut up 
in the circus; and calling for his sister Salome, 
and her husband Alexas, he told them, " My 
life is now but short ; I know the dispositions 
of the Jewish people, and nothing will please 
them more than my death. You have these 
men in your custody ; as soon as the breath 
is out of my body, and before my death can 
be known, do you let in the soldiers upon 
them and kill them. All Judea and every 
family will then, though unwillingly, mourn 
at my death." Nay, Josephus says that 
K with tears in his eyes he conjured them, by 
their love to him, and their fidelity to God, 
not to fail of doing him this honour ; and they 
promised they would not fail." This order 
was not executed, but the narrative shows 
beyond dispute that the massacre of the inno- 
cents was an act perfectly in unison with the 
base cruelty of Herod. It is worthy of 
remark that Macrobius, a heathen author of 
the fourth century, erroneously notices the 
latter event in connexion with the execution 
by Herod of his own sons, two of whom he 
had ordered to be strangled. This writer 



156 EVIDENCES OF 

includes the following amongst other jests of 
Augustus, — "when he had heard that, among 
the children within two years of age whom 
Herod, king of the Jews, had commanded to 
be slain in Syria, his own son had been killed, 
he said, it is better to be Herod's hog than 
his son ;" in allusion, of course, to the Mosaic 
prohibition of the eating of swine's flesh. 
Although Macrobius is rather a late author, 
he was not a Christian, and the probability is 
that the anecdote above related was derived 
from some more ancient source. It must at 
all events be considered a fair independent 
testimony that Herod's massacre of the infants 
in Judea was admitted as a fact by the 
heathens of the fourth century. 

60. It is curious that Herod's apprehension 
respecting the coming of the Messiah, an 
anxiety to be referred to the anticipation of 
the supernatural development of an earthly 
not of a spiritual kingdom, should have been 
exhibited many years afterwards by the em- 
peror Domitian, who reigned from a.d. 81 
to a.d. 96. An account of this circumstance 
is given by Hegesippus, who wrote about 



CHRISTIANITY. 157 

A. d. 170. " When Domitian," says Eusebius, 
" had issued his orders that the descendants 
of David should be slain; according to an 
ancient tradition, some of the heretics accused 
the descendants of Judas, as the brother of 
our Saviour according to the flesh, because 
they were of the family of David, and, as such, 
were also related to Christ." The words of 
Hegesippus, the more ancient authority, are 
as follows, — " There were yet living of the 
family of our Lord, the grandchildren of 
Judas, called the brother of our Lord, ac- 
cording to the flesh. These were reported as 
being of the family of David, and were brought 
before Domitian, for this emperor was as 
much alarmed at the appearance of Christ as 
Herod. He put the question whether they 
were of David's race, and they confessed that 
they were. He then asked them what pro- 
perty they had, and how much money they 
owed ; and both of them answered, they had 
between them only nine thousand denarii 
(about £281), and this they had not in silver, 
but in the value of a piece of land containing 
only thirty -nine acres; from which they 



158 EVIDENCES OF 

raised their taxes and supported themselves 
by their own labour. Then they also began 
to show their hands, exhibiting the hardness 
of their bodies, and the callosity formed by 
incessant labour on their hands, as evidence of 
their own labour. When asked, also, re- 
specting Christ and his kingdom, what was its 
nature, and when and where it was to appear, 
they replied that it was not a temporal nor 
an earthly kingdom, but celestial and angelic; 
that it would appear at the end of the world, 
when coming in glory he would judge the 
quick and the dead, and give to every one 
according to his works. Upon which Domi- 
tian, despising them, made no reply ; but 
treating them with contempt, as simpletons, 
commanded them to be dismissed, and by a 
decree ordered the persecution to cease. Thus 
delivered, they ruled the churches, both as 
witnesses and relatives of the Lord. When 
peace was established, they continued living 
even to the time of Trajan." This anecdote 
confirms the probability of the narrative re- 
specting Herod's fear of the advent of Christ, 
as related in the evangelical history. 



CHRISTIANITY. 159 

61. Another objection is the absence in 
the few contemporary heathen writers of 
notice of the preternatural darkness which 
spread over all or part of the land of Judea 
at the crucifixion, and of the earthquake 
which happened at the same time. There is 
no classical author who enters at all minutely 
into the history of the Holy Land at that 
period, and there is no reason for supposing 
that the darkness extended beyond the limits 
of that country ; some distinguished critics 
being of opinion it was restricted to the 
circuit of a few miles around Jerusalem. 
Josephus does not allude to it, but neither 
does St. John, and little is to be fairly de- 
duced from the want of mention, in ancient 
works, of isolated facts; and least of all, 
from any omissions made by the Jewish 
historian, who, as has been observed, neglects 
to note so many striking incidents closely 
connected with the subject of his work. 
There is, however, clear evidence that an 
account of this miraculous darkness was pre- 
served in the archives of Rome, and that the 
philosophers of the time doubted its truth, 



160 EVIDENCES OF 

because it was inconsistent with the laws of 
any known astronomical event. Tertullian, 
addressing the Romans, expressly refers to 
this, and boldly appeals to the public registers 
for a confirmation of his assertion that such 
an account was preserved amongst their own 
records. Some writers consider that the 
darkness at the time of the crucifixion is 
alluded to in a passage in the works of Phle- 
gon, a Greek author, a.d. 138, who states 
that, " in the fourth year of the two- 
hundredth-and-second Olympiad, there was 
the greatest eclipse of the sun that was ever 
known, and such a darkness at the sixth hour 
of the day, that even the stars were seen in 
the sky ;" and it is worthy of remark that, so 
early as the close of the second century, it 
was thought that Phlegon, and some other 
Greek authors who mention a great eclipse 
and earthquake as occurring about this period, 
referred to the event recorded in the gospels. 
This latter, however, is scarcely what can be 
termed an eclipse, the duration of the obscurity 
having been too long for such an interpreta- 
tion to be accepted ; but heathen writers, not 



CHRISTIANITY. 161 

knowing all the circumstances, might very 
possibly have assumed that it was occasioned 
by natural causes. The probability seems to 
be that a darkness of uncertain intensity 
spread over Judea for three hours. The ex- 
pression of St. Luke that the " sun was 
darkened" is merely figurative, as in Rev. 
ix. 2 ; and it has been suggested that a 
passage in St. John, xix. 26, shows that the 
gloom described by the other evangelists was 
not an absolute deficiency of light. Be this 
as it may, there is no denial of the truth of 
the phenomenon by any contemporary writer, 
and it is as much as can be expected to find 
it was recorded in the archives of a people 
who were unwilling witnesses of any facts 
tending to aid the credibility of the Christian 
religion. The assertion of Tertullian in re- 
spect to the record of this important event is 
of great value, " at the same moment the 
light of mid-day was withdrawn, the sun 
veiling his orb ; they, who knew not that 
this also had been foretold concerning Christ, 
thought it forsooth an eclipse ; when they 
discovered not its cause, they denied it ; and 

M 



162 EVIDENCES OF 

yet you have this event, that befel the world, 
related in your own records (et tamen eum 
mundi casum relatum in archivis vestris ha- 
betis)." In some copies, the word archivis is 
altered to arcanis, which latter reading has 
been supposed, but on very unsatisfactory 
grounds, to refer to the Sibylline oracles, and 
is disingenuously adopted by Gibbon as if 
there were no doubt of its accuracy ; yet not 
only do Huet, Grotius, and other men of great 
learning, accept the other lection, and inter- 
pret the words of Tertullian in the sense here 
assigned to them, but the same reading, 
archivis, is found in a manuscript of the 
twelfth century preserved in the library at 
Gotha, as well as in other manuscripts, and 
in nearly if not quite all the printed editions 
of the sixteenth century, which latter were 
probably taken from copies of good authority. 
It must be remembered that this is not the 
only passage in which Tertullian boldly refers 
to the evidences of the truth of the Christian 
narrative preserved in his time at Rome, 
where, there is no doubt, copies at least, if 
not the originals, of the authentic Acts of 



CHRISTIANITY. 163 

Pilate were in existence. After the account 
of the darkness at the crucifixion, he observes, 
— " Christ then being taken down from the 
cross, and laid in a sepulchre, the Jews beset 
it round with a strong guard of soldiers, fore- 
arming them with the strictest caution that 
his disciples should not come and steal away 
the body secretly, because he had foretold he 
would rise again from the dead on the third 
day. But on the third day a sudden earth- 
quake arose, and the huge stone was rolled 
from the mouth of the sepulchre, the guards 
being struck with fear and confusion, not one 
disciple appearing on the occasion, and no- 
thing found therein but the linen in which 
he was buried. Nevertheless, the chief 
priests, whose interest it was to set such a 
wicked falsehood on foot, in order to reclaim 
the people from a faith which must end in the 
utter ruin of their incomes and authority, 
gave out that his disciples came privily and 
stole him away. After the resurrection, 
Christ did not think fit to make a public entry 
among the people, because he would not 
forcibly redeem such obstinate persons from 



164 EVIDENCES OF 

error, and because a faith proposing infinite 
rewards should labour under some difficulties, 
that believing might be a virtue and not a 
necessity. But with some of his disciples he 
did eat and drink forty days in Galilee, a pro- 
vince of Judea, instructing them in all they 
should teach; and then, having ordained 
them to the office of preaching, he was parted 
from them by a cloud, and so received up be- 
fore them into heaven. Pilate sent Tiberius 
an account of all these proceedings relating 
to Christ." A similar reference to evidences 
in the hands of the Romans occurs in Lucian's 
Apology, — " look into your own annals, and 
there you will find that, in the time of Pilate, 
when Christ suffered, the sun was obscured, 
and the light of the day was interrupted with 
darkness." 

62. In both instances of the references to 
original documents in the foregoing extracts, 
Tertullian probably alludes to the Acts of 
Pilate, but, whether this be the case or not, 
he undoubtedly appeals to the public records 
for a general verification of his statements. 
Attempts have been made to neutralize the 



CHRISTIANITY. 165 

value of this testimony, but on no sufficient 
grounds. At the same time, it is difficult to 
say which opinion is the most favourable to an 
argument in defence of the Christian religion. 
The supposition is a highly improbable one, 
but if no such Acts or records ever existed, 
and if Pontius Pilate did not transmit to the 
emperor Tiberius any information respecting 
the history of the Saviour, the chief objections 
of Gibbon are rendered nugatory ; for other- 
wise it is unlikely that the few Roman his- 
torians of the period could have obtained 
decided and authentic intelligence on the 
subject, or in fact any precise information 
excepting from those whose evidence would 
be received with suspicion, — the first converts 
at Rome. Gibbon, with an ill-concealed 
irony, observes that Pliny omits all reference 
to the darkness at the Passion, while he fails 
not to describe the singular defect of light 
which followed the murder of Cassar. But 
the cases are not parallel; the latter phe- 
nomenon being connected with the history 
and political feeling of his own country, and 
well known to the Italian public; whereas 



166 EVIDENCES OF 

the obscurity at the crucifixion happened at a 
distance, and, even if reported to Pliny on 
trustworthy testimony, might either have been 
received with suspicion, or rejected from his 
work on grounds of policy, as bearing evidence 
to the truth of a religion the progress of 
which had already excited the alarm of the 
government. If Pilate sent an account of 
this event to Tiberius, together with notices 
of other matters relating to Jesus, it is im- 
possible to assert that there may not have 
existed political reasons for the temporary 
concealment of the Acts in which they were 
narrated; or, to hazard another conjecture, 
neither is it unlikely that, amidst the multi- 
plicity of similar reports, these testimonies 
remained unregarded until the dissemination 
of the Christian religion rendered them of 
interest and value. Of the fact that there 
were public documents at Pome in the second 
century, containing verifications of certain 
events in the history of the Saviour, there 
can exist as little reasonable doubt as there is 
none of the fact that such records were openly 
appealed to as authentic. 



CHRISTIANITY. 167 

63. The statement made by Gibbon re- 
specting the silence of heathen writers in 
regard to the preternatural darkness at the 
death of Christ, is distinguished by the ex- 
aggeration and want of candour pervading 
nearly all his observations on the rise and 
progress of Christianity. His words, in the 
passage above alluded to, are, — " a distinct 
chapter of Pliny is devoted to eclipses of an 
extraordinary nature, and unusual duration ; 
but he contents himself with describing the 
singular defect of light which followed the 
murder of Caesar, when, during the greatest 
part of a year, the orb of the sun appeared 
pale and without splendour." The interpre- 
tation naturally given to this assertion would 
be, that Pliny had endeavoured to exhaust 
the subject of extraordinary eclipses, omitting 
all reference to the miraculous obscurity 
described in the gospels ; but so far from this 
being the case, the entire chapter, besides not 
treating solely on eclipses, consists only of 
four lines, a few words in which casually 
allude to two examples of a long-continued 
gloom. Neither Seneca nor Pliny could have 



168 EVIDENCES OF 

been in Judea at the time of the crucifixion ; 
and the entire of Gibbon's argument, drawn 
from an absence of notice of any particular 
event in the works of such authors, wholly fails 
on examination. They omit to mention even 
some of the most remarkable phenomena con- 
nected with the history of their own country, 
an observation which applies to nearly all 
other ancient writers. If such omission of 
references were constituted a valid species of 
reasoning, numerous indeed would be the 
events in history the credibility of which 
could be successfully assailed. 

64. The rest of the principal objections 
against the truth of the evangelical narrative 
are those connected with chronological and 
other discussions involving arguments of so 
subtle and learned a character, and depending 
so greatly on the results of textual criticism, 
it would be difficult to represent them fairly 
without entering into particulars uninterest- 
ing at least, if not unintelligible, to the general 
reader ; nor am I sure that it would be in 
my power to unravel the exact meaning of 
much of the learned annotation bestowed on 



CHRISTIANITY. 169 

these questions. It must be remembered not 
only that it is impossible for any but the most 
advanced scholars to appreciate the precise 
extent of the difficulties occasioned by certain 
discrepancies observed in the text of the New 
Testament as at present received, but that 
all verbal criticism respecting that text is still 
in its infancy. This is said without prejudice 
to any religious theory, and is equally ap- 
plicable whether we are the advocates of the 
plenary, or merely of the essential, inspiration 
of the scriptures ; for whichever opinion be 
accepted, it is impossible for any one, ac- 
quainted with the manner in which the books 
of the New Testament have been transmitted 
to the present times, to believe that any 
known text is absolutely in the exact state in 
which it emanated from the inspired authors, 
or to assert that the rules of criticism, in 
respect to the authenticity of the text, are not 
in a great degree as applicable to the Bible 
as to any other volume belonging to the ages 
of antiquity. We may feel a moral conviction 
that all the essential truths of religion are 
preserved in the present copies of the sacred 



170 EVIDENCES 01 

writings, for it is extremely improbable that 
salvation should ever at any period have been 
allowed to depend upon the refined discussions 
of verbal criticism ; but still this considera- 
tion does not preclude the important fact that 
the text of the scriptures is a legitimate 
subject for careful investigation by the aid of 
all the means which modern research and 
learning have unfolded. It is not improbable 
that, by degrees, every kind of difficulty, of 
the nature above referred to, will be ultimately 
removed by the assistance of this kind of 
criticism ; and that a text of higher antiquity 
than any yet discovered may still be found, 
which may materially influence all discussions 
on the subject, at the same time that the 
fidelity of the received versions, in essential 
particulars, will, in all probability, be con- 
firmed. 

65. The supposed discrepancies above al- 
luded to are overbalanced by the numerous 
confirmations of facts and allusions in the 
New Testament discovered in the works of 
independent authors, which have been dili- 
gently collected by Lardner and others. They 



CHRISTIANITY. 171 

prove satisfactorily that the principal circum- 
stances narrated in the gospels are consistent 
with the state of Judea in the life of Christ, 
and with the usages of the Hebrews and 
other nations before the destruction of Jeru- 
salem. These instances of conformity between 
the statements of the evangelists, and the 
customs of the period, are not only found in 
the more obvious allusions, but in particulars 
that might have been considered to be the 
most unlikely to be paralleled by other exam- 
ples. It is difficult to make a selection, but 
most readers would perhaps be of opinion that 
the probable truth of the history of the mock 
coronation of the Saviour would be one of 
those circumstances the most unlikely to be 
confirmed by a contemporary narrative bearing 
resemblance to it ; and, on that account, the 
present illustration may be restricted to the 
consideration of that event. In A. D. 37 or 38, 
early in the reign of Caligula, a person named 
Carabas was similarly treated at Alexandria, 
the object of the people being to exhibit their 
dislike to Agrippa, to whom the Roman 
Emperor had given the tetrarchy of part of 



172 EVIDENCES OF 

Herod's dominions, with the right of wearing 
a diadem or crown. The story is thus related 
by Philo, a philosopher of Alexandria, who 
wrote towards the close of the first century, 
— " this wretch Carabas they brought into 
the theatre, and placed him on a lofty seat 
that he might be conspicuous to all; then they 
put a thing made of paper on his head for a 
crown, the rest of his body they covered with 
a mat instead of a robe, and for a sceptre one 
put into his hand a little piece of a reed 
which he had just taken up from the ground. 
Having thus given him a mimic royal dress, 
several young fellows with poles on their 
shoulders came and stood on each side of him 
as his guards. Then there came people 
toward him, some to pay their homage to him, 
others to ask justice of him, and some to know 
his will and pleasure concerning affairs of 
state ; and in the crowd were loud and con- 
fused acclamations of Maris, Maris; that 
being, as they say, the Syriac word for Lord, 
thereby intimating whom they intended to 
ridicule by all this mock show; Agrippa 
being a Syrian, and king of a large country 



CHRISTIANITY. 173 

in Syria." Philo here speaks of Judea as a 
part of Syria. 

66. The subject of conformities of this de- 
scription might be continued at great length, 
but as the evidence merely extends to show- 
ing the probability of the early composition 
of the Gospels, respecting which there can 
exist no reasonable doubt, a more extended 
notice of them may here be deemed unneces- 
sary. Neither would it be consistent with 
the design of this work, which has reference 
chiefly to the external historical evidences of 
Christianity, to enter at length into what 
would naturally form the next subject, the 
internal evidences of the truth of the evan- 
gelical narrative, which must be striking even 
to a prejudiced reader, and which would of 
themselves require a large volume, if con- 
sidered with the attention they must be 
acknowledged to deserve. Amongst these 
vindications of truth may, however, be briefly 
noticed the candour with which the writers 
record the weaknesses and errors of members 
of their own faith, the simplicity and truthful 
character of their narrative, the unhesitating 



174 EVIDENCES OF 

manner in which they notice circumstances 
tending to degrade the religion in the estima- 
tion of worldly men, the impartiality with 
which they mention the objections of their 
adversaries, and, above all, the enunciation of 
a pure spiritual faith, and a perfection of 
morality far beyond the imagination of the 
founders of any previous school of ethics or 
philosophy. These constitute, in the whole, 
a very powerful argument in favour of the 
reception of the authenticity of the gospels as 
compositions by immediate followers of the 
Saviour. 

67. In addition to these evidences, there is 
the testimony of prophecy, which consists in 
the exact application of a number of passages 
in the Old Testament, known to have been 
written by the prophets many ages before the 
birth of Christ, to events which occurred in 
the life of the Saviour. This subject is so 
important, and could be followed out to so 
great an extent by careful and learned in- 
vestigation, I altogether distrust my ability to 
do even slight justice to it ; and will, there- 
fore, be contented to refer to perhaps the 



CHRISTIANITY. 175 

earliest collection of such texts, which occurs 
in the following chapter of Clement's Epistle 
to the Corinthians, written towards the close 
of the first century ; — " For Christ is theirs 
who are humble, and not who exalt them- 
selves over his flock. The sceptre of the 
Majesty of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, came 
not in the show of pride, and arrogance, 
though he could have done so, but with hu- 
mility, as the Holy Ghost had before spoken 
concerning him. For thus he saith, e Lord, 
who hath believed our report, and to whom 
is the arm of the Lord revealed ? For he shall 
grow up before him as a tender plant, and as 
a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form 
nor comeliness ; and, when we shall see him, 
there is no beauty that we should desire him. 
He is despised and rejected of men : a man 
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And 
we hid as it were our faces from him : he was 
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely 
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, 
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was 
wounded for our transgressions; he was 



176 EVIDENCES OF 

bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of 
our peace was upon him, and with his stripes 
we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone 
astray ; we have turned every one to his own 
way, and the Lord hath laid on him the 
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he 
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth : 
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter ; and, 
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 
openeth not his mouth. He was taken from 
prison and from judgment; and who shall 
declare his generation? For he was cut off 
out of the land of the living ; for the trans- 
gression of my people was he stricken. And 
he made his grave with the wicked, and with 
the rich in his death ; because he had done 
no violence, neither was any deceit in his 
mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; 
he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt 
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see 
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the 
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and 
shall be satisfied ; by his knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify many : for he shall 



CHRISTIANITY. Ill 

bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide 
him a portion with the great, and he shall 
divide the spoil with the strong ; because he 
hath poured out his soul unto death : and he 
was numbered with the transgressors, and he 
bare the sin of many, and made intercession 
for the transgressors.' And again he himself 
saith, e I am a worm and no man, a reproach 
of men, and despised of the people. All they 
that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot 
out their lips ; they shake their head, saying, 
He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver 
him : let him deliver him, seeing he delighted 
in him.' Ye see, beloved, what the pattern 
is that has been given to us. For, if the Lord 
thus humbled himself, what should we do 
who are brought by him under the yoke of 
his grace ? " There were other prophecies, 
not found in the Bible, alleged by some of 
the early Christians to apply to the Saviour, 
but as it was well recommended by Augustine, 
A. D. 395, — " it is much better to insist only 
upon the prophecies of the Old Testament, 
which the Jews our enemies receive; they 
are now dispersed all over the earth, and they 



178 EVIDENCES OF 

bear witness that the prophecies concerning 
Christ, therein contained, have not been forged 
by us." In another place, he calls the Jews 
the librarians of the Christians, and compares 
them to persons carrying the bags of evidences 
ready for production in a court of justice. 

68. The truthful character of the mission 
of the Saviour, in respect to his own revela- 
tion to the world, exclusive of the fulfilment 
of the references in the Old Testament, 
rests slightly upon prophecy ; but there is 
one, the prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, 
which deserves special consideration. If the 
truth of the Gospel narrative be not admitted, 
it must be allowed that there is no certain 
evidence that this prophecy was uttered or 
recorded before the circumstance took place. 
There is the strong negative argument that 
there is no reason for supposing the early 
Christians to have used other and different 
histories of the founder of their creed. It is 
in the highest degree improbable, if the pro- 
phecy had not appeared until after the event, 
or if the case had been at all doubtful, that 
some of the early opponents of Christianity 



CHRISTIANITY. 179 

would not have seized with avidity on a power- 
ful argument, the truth of which could have 
been tested at least as late as the time of Celsus. 
Such an argument would have been alluded 
to in a reply, even if the attack itself were 
lost. It may yet be questioned whether, if 
we succeeded in proving with legal exactness 
the priority of the record to the fall of Jeru- 
salem, a sceptic would consider the truth of 
the religion thus proved. It might be thought 
to strengthen other arguments, without being 
considered in itself conclusive. The object 
of the prophecy was perhaps rather to save 
the valuable congregation of the Jerusalem 
church in its infancy, than to furnish a testi- 
mony to the faith, the truth of which fortu- 
nately does not depend on our being enabled 
to demonstrate the genuineness of this pre- 
diction. It will be sufficient for any one, 
impressed with the strong evidences in favour 
of the general truth of the gospel history, to 
know that there exists no reason to question 
the correctness of the statements made by the 
evangelists respecting it, and that the evi- 
dence upon which its truth rests would be 



180 EVIDENCES OF 

readily accepted by all, did that evidence 
refer to any ordinary event in history. An 
adversary who insists upon the normal impro- 
bability of the truth of any miracle or divine 
prophecy, will not be satisfied even with the 
production of much stronger testimony. He 
can still question and doubt the validity of 
any written evidence appertaining to the 
times of the ancients, when weighed in the 
balance against the remote possibility of de- 
ception. 

69. There is yet another kind of evidence, 
one which is peculiar to Christianity. It is 
restricted to the communication of individual 
experiences, but it rests on so large a number 
of strong testimonies, that it may be reason- 
ably accepted by some minds as confirmatory of 
the truth of the religion, although no reliance 
is here placed upon it as an essential argu- 
ment. I refer to the numerous instances 
related of persons having been, in spite of 
themselves and the resisting power of the 
worldly tendencies of their minds, irresistibly 
drawn by some indescribable attraction to the 
foot of the Cross. It seems as if there were 



CHRISTIANITY. 181 

an invisible power acting on the unconverted 
soul which claims it for its own, in apparent 
contradiction to the direction of the will. 
Yet this opposition may be only imaginary, 
and it may be that, in all such cases, the 
religious feeling has ever been present, though 
obscured or depressed for a while by other 
tendencies or external influences. Be this as 
it may, it seems evident that Christianity 
offers the most congenial field for the de- 
velopment of strong religious sentiment. 
Preternatural conversions have been usual 
from the earliest ages of the faith up to the 
present time. Many people, observes Origen, 
" have, as it were against their wills, been 
brought over to Christianity by the Holy 
Spirit giving a sudden turn to their minds, 
and offering visions to them by day or by 
night; so that, instead of hating the word, 
they became ready even to lay down their 
lives for it." Tertullian, in the second cen- 
tury, bears similar testimony ; nor is the 
agency of visions, though of course they are 
easily (perhaps not always truly) referred to 
a disordered imagination, to be dismissed as 



182 EVIDENCES OF 

altogether impossible. The experience of the 
present day confirms that of Origen and 
Tertullian; and is one of the more subtle 
evidences of the truth of the religion. Some 
hypocritical assertions of this kind there may 
be, but the number of well-attested nearly 
instantaneous conversions, taking place under 
circumstances where the attribution of worldly 
motives cannot be sustained, is too great for 
us fairly to question the fact that such 
spiritual changes do occasionally happen. 

70. Scarcely any of the evidences pre- 
viously mentioned, now insisted upon for the 
establishment of the truth of Christianity, 
with the exception of those derived from the 
ancient Jewish prophecies, are prominently 
introduced in the Christian writings of the 
first and second centuries. No systematic 
defence of the religion against the attacks of 
the philosophers appears to have been thought 
necessary at that early period, the numerous 
Apologies, which were issued in the second 
century, having been generally compiled for 
the purpose of explaining the innocence and 
lawfulness of the new faith to the Roman 



CHRISTIANITY. 183 

emperors and people, with a view of mitigat- 
ing the persecution carried on against it. 
Hence it is that these works only incidentally 
contribute to the evidences of the religion. 
When their authors approach the subject of 
doctrine, they assume the truth of the mira- 
cles, and concern themselves more with in- 
terpreting the relations of the Prophecies to 
those phenomena, than with entering into a 
discussion on the evidences of the latter. In 
the instances, however, in which they refer 
to the truth of the miracles accompanying 
the appearance of the Messiah, their testi- 
mony is decisive. The earliest Apologist 
whose name has been recorded is Quadratus, 
a.d. 120, the only fragment of whose works 
now remaining is the remarkable passage re- 
specting the works of the Saviour, already 
quoted at p. 41. About the same time ap- 
peared the second work of this class, the 
Apology of Aristides, a Greek writer, who 
retained the philosopher's cloak after his 
acceptance of Christianity, in order that he 
might have greater influence in converting 
the educated heathens. He was an eloquent 



184 EVIDENCES OF 

philosopher of Athens, and his Apology was 
dedicated to the emperor Hadrian. The 
work itself is lost, and the only remnant of it 
that has been discovered is a short passage in 
which is mentioned the martyrdom of Diony- 
sius the Areopagite, " after a noble confession 
of the faith, and the most severe kinds of 
torture." The earliest Apologies now pre- 
served are those of Justin Martyr, one ad- 
dressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, and 
the other to Marcus Aurelius. To these 
follow the Oration of Tatian of Assyria, a 
disciple of the former writer, through whose 
influence he was converted to Christianity. 
It is an obscurely written work, and contains 
little to the purposes of this treatise. The 
Apology of Athenagoras, addressed to the 
emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Corn- 
modus, is a far more interesting and im- 
portant production. It was written about 
the year 180. About the same time appeared 
the defences of Melito, Claudius Apollinaris, 
Miltiades, Theophilus, and others. It is 
unnecessary to enter here into the history 
and character of these works, for those of 



CHRISTIANITY. 185 

them which remain to our day have been 
carefully read for the objects of the present 
essay, and quoted wherever they presented 
useful information or corroborative evidence 
in connexion with the subject of the truth of 
the religion. The only Christian writings, 
considered by any to belong to the first or 
second centuries, which have not been thought 
to require notice, are the Sibylline books, the 
legends of martyrs, and the un canonical 
gospels, acts, and epistles. All these belong 
either to the second, or to the following cen- 
tury. The pieces last named were rejected 
as spurious by the primitive Christians, are 
never referred to by the early opponents of 
the religion, and contain violent contradictions 
both of sacred and profane history. They 
may, therefore, be safely dismissed from con- 
sideration. 

71. Here the historical evidences of Chris- 
tianity, strictly so called, end. It is scarcely 
necessary to observe that, with the exception 
of those passages in later works in which re- 
ferences are made to authorities of an earlier 
date, they are properly restricted to the 



186 EVIDENCES OF 

testimonies in the records of the first and 
second centuries. After the conclusion of 
those periods, not even secondary evidence of 
any importance could have been accessible. 
Hence, in the preceding pages, I have been 
anxious to limit the argument to the con- 
sideration of the works of the most ancient 
authors. It has also been conducted without 
the aid of the great and important evidences 
afforded by the facts recorded in the books of 
the New Testament, in order to adapt the 
reasoning to the minds of those who, how- 
ever unfairly, refuse to accept any statements 
in the Scriptures even as corroborative testi- 
mony. But, in any discussion of this nature, 
it must ever be borne in mind that the ob- 
ject in view — to induce the sceptic to con- 
sider the religion worthy of attentive and 
candid investigation — is only to be attained 
by ignoring the best testimonies that can be 
adduced, which are unquestionably the gos- 
pels, those histories compiled by the eye- 
witnesses or immediate friends of the original 
witnesses of the facts recorded. Instead of 
receiving these accounts as entitled to credit, 



CHRISTIANITY. 187 

it is necessary to argue from admissions made 
incidentally by the enemies of the religion to 
the truth of the principal statements therein 
contained, and from that by deduction and 
the establishment of a high degree of proba- 
bility, to the authenticity of the evangelical 
narrative. In the foregoing observations, 
this has been attempted ; and whatever value 
may be placed on the arguments brought 
forward, it is at least anticipated that there 
will be no accusation of a want of candour. 
Whatever objections of importance are known 
to have been urged against the truth of 
Christianity are fairly stated, without the 
desire to conceal or explain away a single 
difficulty. The means of forming a correct 
judgment are, it is believed, before the 
reader. They are not produced with the 
assumption that the author can possibly have 
discovered new sources of information, that 
have escaped the notice of the many far 
more learned men who have treated on these 
subjects. The known literary treasury of 
the age of primitive Christianity has only 
been once again explored for materials bear- 



188 EVIDENCES OF 

ing testimony to the truth of the religion. 
It is sufficient if it be conceded that the 
more remarkable objects are gathered from 
the surface, exhibited in an intelligible form, 
unaccompanied on the part of the collector 
with any feeling of advocacy, and least of all 
with the attribution of wilful unfairness to- 
wards those who conscientiously differ from 
our conclusions. If the discussion were ap- 
proached on both sides in a spirit of charity 
and forbearance, and with an anxious desire on 
the part of the sceptic to institute a diligent 
and careful examination into the credibility 
of the truth of the Christian faith, infidelity 
must inevitably disappear, or at least be re- 
stricted either to those who require a mathe- 
matical demonstration of the certainty of 
revelation, or to those who refuse to allow 
any weight of external historical evidence to 
overcome their self-imposed psychological ob- 
jections to the creed. The confirmations of 
the truth of the religion are numerous and 
convincing. The difficulties attending its 
reception are few, are not insuperable, and 
may on any day be removed by the discovery 



CHRISTIANITY. 189 

of contemporary records. Thus, at all events, 
the rejection of Christianity entails a re- 
sponsibility no one can wisely incur without 
submitting it to the ordeal of a strict investi- 
gation ; and certainly no dark clouds of doubt 
will overshadow the result of such an ex- 
amination, if conducted by an enquirer ac- 
quainted with the recognised laws of historical 
evidence. 



i 



NOTE. 



AVERY able scholar has suggested to me 
that the passage in Tacitus, which men- 
tions the temporary repression of Christianity, 
does not necessarily refer its cause to the Cruci- 
fixion of the Saviour, but rather, as is supposed 
by some critics of good authority, to the banish- 
ment of the Jews from Rome by Claudius. 
This latter event occurred at a very early period, 
certainly before a.d. 54, the year in which 
Claudius died, and if Tacitus really does allude 
to any event which occurred at Rome, the con- 
jecture adds greatly to the force of the evidence 
in favour of the intensity of the spread of Chris- 
tianity in its first progress. The words of 
Tacitus, however, which immediately follow the 
passage alluded to — non modo per Judceam, — 
appear to me to show distinctly that the writer 
intends to represent that the check given to the 
new faith, soon after the Crucifixion, was either 
owing absolutely to that event, or to some occur- 



i 



192 NOTE. 

rence which took place in Judea within a few 
years afterwards. In whatever way the subject 
is viewed, the evidence in favour of Christianity 
remains at the same level. The various manu- 
scripts of Tacitus offer no various readings, of any 
importance, in this highly valuable notice of the 
religion. 



THE END. 



CHISWICK. PRESS :— PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGI1A3J , 
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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